In recent years, thousands of Nigerians have fallen prey to the devious antics of money-doubling platforms, popularly known as Ponzi schemes. DEBORAH DAN-AWOH looks at the trend and how Nigerians are yet to learn from painful history
Since the official declaration of economic recession in early 2016, Nigeria has experienced a proliferation of the world’s oldest scam, the Ponzi scheme.
In the wake of the economic crunch of 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the International Monetary Fund had stated that Nigeria’s economy had slipped into recession. The effect was evident through the country’s significant decline in economic activities, such as increased hardship, unemployment, low output, and rising inflationary pressures.
At that juncture, some Nigerians began to seek alternative means of income via schemes that looked viable on surface value but fraught with potentially tragic consequences in the long run.
Hence, when the unorthodox financial system, Mavrodi Mundial Movement, a Ponzi scheme launched in 2011 by Russian politician and conman Sergius Mavrodi, made its way to Nigeria, many Nigerians embraced it as the system that would finally help to secure their financial freedom.
Historically, Ponzi schemes in Nigeria were common in the 1980s and early 1990s. The earliest in the recall were the Umana-Umana investment platform in Port Harcourt and Calabar, the Planwell scheme in Edo State, and the Nospecto in Lagos.
Ponzi schemes, also…
