The Central Bank of Nigeria says that despite the harsh economic climate, Nigerians, as at December 2016, have thrown about N12 billion away to Ponzi schemes such as the popular but now defunct MMM.
The acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, lamented that this loss was made more painful by the fact that Nigerians had been warned by the CBN several times about the shady nature of such Ponzis but still fell headlong for them.
The Ponzi schemes became the rave of the moment in 2016 when Nigerians, pushed by the dire economic situation and other factors, sought to make quick money from the schemes which promised outrageously high returns on investment within short time. Unfortunately, though, many had their funds trapped in these Ponzis when they suddenly crashed.
The CBN, according to Okarafor, has been doing its best to educate Nigerians in order to create awareness on possible dangers as well as initiate schemes that would stimulate economic activities with a view to ensuring sustainable growth and development.
“Our objective is simple. We want you to understand what we do at the CBN. We want to sensitize you on your roles as citizens in keeping the naira clean and other matters,” he said at a 2-day Bank-Wide sensitization campaign on CBN initiatives and programs in Kano yesterday.
I love this post. I however wonder how Nigerians lost that Sum when the scheme made for monies to exchange hands within same citizens. It was a Mutual help scheme I suppose.
[…] several warnings from the CBN and the SEC. MMM’a crash is now an open secret. The CBN gave an estimated loss of N12 billion to Ponzis in 2016. You can be sure that MMM is responsible for more than half of that […]