MMM, HATE OR LOVE WILL IT SURVIVE?

 

I ask my self, “What is the motive behind the plethora articles for and against MMM”? The most amazing part is the passion behind the defense or the many offense put up by many known and unknown Nigerians. Firstly, I will advise that you open your mind void of bias and any form of prejudice. I will try to also do the same as I analyze a case for MMM to the best of my knowledge and a case to expose the possible pitfalls of MMM.

Christmas is here again, the financial institutions are experiencing heavy liquidation and of course it will be a test for the MMM community as it is perceived to be a financially defined community. If the scheme survives this Christmas, the enemies of this community “lol” should rest their “prayers” because it may take more than induced panic to kill it. To be clear, I have done my valid research and inquiries into the money cycling community called MMM. My research and enquiries were void of bias and where critical so as to reveal the truth that you may not know or already know and may not understand. I will start by answering certain questions, insinuations and assertions about MMM and my answers are grounded and factual. Let me list them below but first check out these findings

FINDINGS:

Do you know that it costs tax payers 290m Naira yearly to maintain each member of the National Assembly in a Nigeria while 80% of the population earn below 300 Naira a day? A working day earning of a senator is more than a yearly income of a doctor; it's more than the salary of 42 Army generals or 48 professors or 70 commissioners of police or more than twice the pay of the US President or 9 times the salary of US congressmen.

Back to my questions and answers “lol”:

• Has MMM South Africa and Zimbabwe collapsed? No
• Is MMM originated by a man with alleged criminal records? Yes
• Is MMM Nigeria a ponzi by definition? No
• Will MMM collapse soon? Not likely
• Is Peter being robbed to pay Paul? No
• Is money paid to an MMM central account? No
• Is the 30% a profit on investment? No
• Was Mavrodi convicted in 2007? Yes
• Did Mavrodi obtain parliamentary immunity? Yes
• Is the MMM a concept of financial freedom? Yes
• Does MMM by law need regulation? No
• Does Mavrodi think he wants to save the financially enslaved world? Yes
• Is the current financial system fair? No
• Will the rich and the financial institution fight against MMM? Yes and No

Sergey Panteleevich Mavrodi believes he has mathematically crafted a plan, MMM to save the world from its financial slavery. If you technically analyze the plan called MMM you will observe the following:

1. MMM has relatively increased financial liquidity amongst the ordinary people,
2. MMM has relatively reduced poverty in Nigeria to a significant percentage,
3. MMM has relatively increased purchasing power amongst the populace,
4. MMM has enabled SME businesses thrived in Nigeria,
5. MMM has increased profitability in some commercial banks (transfer charges and sms charges) and many more…

The questions then, “why are some individuals and some institutions discrediting the same scheme that has distracted many Nigerians from the terrifying effect of  recession, is it a plot to keep people in perpetual poverty, are these individual and institutions angry with progress, is it because of Mavrodi’s past records”? Well, all these questions may have legitimate answers but the truth will remain, there is MMM and there are those that think they have a reason why it is a terrible scheme.

The world will not give you a chance to thrive the moment you are perceived a criminal.  People are not designed to give you a second chance to amend your past mistakes. I personally believe that our pride clouds our judgments. I asked a lady who strongly believes MMM is fraud and had openly campaigned against it at work, home, and virtually anywhere she went, “why do you think this scheme is bad and for foolish people as she would always say”?  She opens up to me saying, she had recently done her research and findings and she regrets her initial position now. She confirms that she has started the scheme secretly but she must not let anyone know because she had championed a negative campaign against the scheme. I further asked, who then referred you into the scheme since you have to be referred? She replied saying, “an unknown referrer she found on the website”. I have also investigated similar cases of converts who cannot let anyone know they are involved with the scheme. I concluded that the same “pride” in the typical African person can reveal “itself” in this manner. Saul in the bible was against Christians but when he saw the light, he professed Christianity, it is only easy to say, “I was not sure about the details but now I know better. Some people will out rightly destroy a product they know nothing about”. Or maybe better, people should critically study products before they join the band wagon of critics. A farmer hated a certain doctor in a small English village because he had refused his son to marrying the farmer’s daughter. When ever the farmer goes to the market to sell his products, he will engage the traders in thoughts of how bad the doctor was. He would give no obvious reason but the traders believed him because he had influence over them. This stereotypical campaign continued for a while until one of the traders needed a doctor for his little son whom was terribly sick. The trader concluded with his wife that he would prefer to take his son to another village to seek medical attention but the wife was worried about his decision because the son could lost his life on the long journey to the other village because their son was terribly ill. The stubborn trader insisted without a cogent reason. On their way to the next village, the doctor rode by in a cart, he noticed a boy swatted in a thick blanket girdled in a plane mobile bed. He stopped to critically observe then asked. “Hello, Mr & Mrs, your son suffers from a terrible ailment, he will not survive the next 1hr without a treatment, would you allow me check him out (With a smile on his face)”? The farmer’s wife quickly agrees but the husband refuses. After a long argument, the doctor compassionately administers a syringe to stabilize the little boy and the boy was successfully stabilized. He then asked the trader to let him treat his son for free and that he is the doctor of this village. Well, in the end he treated the boy and the trader learned the truth about his story, the trader became the preacher of the good gospel of the doctor.

This is likened to Jesus Christ who preaches only love, forgiveness, healing, salvation and all the good things there in but the people still hated him and eventually killed him but he rose again. Do people just hate solutions or are they afraid to associate with good things? Why would they focus on the negative and leave the positive? What harm will it be to just join the good crusade to ensure its sustainability and advocate for innovation, improvement and betterment? But I will tell you why all these will yet not be answered thoroughly, the mind hates change, the mind resents a stained character (to kill a dog, give it a bad name), the mind hates competition, the mind is jealous, and some minds are small. Only people with a bold mind can understand the reasons why certain things are.

I learned that MMM has truly and obviously transformed lives but we still have people who want to trigger panic but why? Are all these attacks sponsored by the same people that convicted him to ensure his purposed and tenets die or to discredit him for them to remain credible especially with their judgments? Or are they compassionate about the people’s welfare hoping that MMM may crash and people will lose their monies?

THE RICH VERSUS THE POOR:

The typical wealthy Nigerian does not want contemporaries especially from his family or home town, the myth is that he/she does not want any one to edge up with him/her and they want to be the “local gods” amongst the rest. He will practically block every opportunity for another person to grow for the same reason above and for the fear of being challenged.

The current inflation rate in Nigeria is about 18.3% people are practically suffering and dying from poverty. The general masses cannot feed; the purchasing power of the people is near zero. A farmer cannot sell his products, the tailor has lost his customers, the plumber has no job, the “mechanic” has no customers, the petit trader has zero or no daily turn over, the banker has lost his job, the insurance manager has joined his jobless wife at home and so on and so forth. The result from all of these listed above and more will be increased crime rates in the society, increased mortality, suffering and more. Whilst all of these negative economic outcomes have plagued the common Nigerian masses, twenty one senators continue to earn pension as ex governors and deputy governors and remuneration as senators. Evidently the senate president Bukola Saraki, Kabiru Gaya, Rbiu Kwankwanso, Sam Egwu, Theodore Orji and others earn outrageous pension as ex governors and earn as senators. Ministers in the current presidential cabinet enjoy the same double benefits. The most amazing thing is that these benefits are so large that it will cause any government to certainly be broke.

In some States, the law provides the same salary for ex-governors as they currently pay the incumbent governors, in addition two houses, three cars every four years are benefits that they get. They are also entitled to one personal aide, chauffeurs, security guard and cooks all at the sum of about 5million naira per month for governors and 2.5million naira per month for deputy governors.

THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION

I work in financial institution. The annual performance of the treasury bills now is about 20% with a minimum investable fund of 1,000,000 naira in some organizations. Money market is performing at about 15% annual interest rate. These seemingly good annual interest returns are based on the spike in the current inflation rate of about 18.3%. Your fix deposit with the bank is doing about 7% annual interest rate and so on. MMM is doing 30% monthly though it is claimed to be a non-financial institution based on the fact that it is not regulated by the government and there is no insurance for the funds given as help. Well, my thoughts will be that, should the government also regulate funds given by me to my parents, wife, siblings, in-laws as family income? I don’t think so because these are monies given of a free will. This can be liken to MMM, a man or woman gives money freely to help his online community member then some one else on the same community freely gives him his money back after thirty days with an additional 30%, I don’t think it should be regulated because these funds are given and gotten of free will and given as a form of charity to enable the "getters" of help meet up with their various needs and possible business propositions.

The whole scheme does not project itself as a scam because participants are forewarned of any possible risk involved and instructed to use spare funds. Whilst participants are warned, the system through its support and admin continually improves the system to prevent scammers and fraudsters from ruining it.

Some of the regulated banks declared in 2014/2015 100billion naira profit after tax. The banks now experience heavy movement of funds within its system. Sms charges, transfer charges and other charges are on the increase, though customers have liquidated their investments with the banks and other financial institutions, the banks are making money from fund transfers and more.

THE 30%, IS IT SUSTAINABLE?

The Nigerian population is about 170million, considering the age dependency ratio in Nigeria, 2014 will be 88.04 (World Bank). Even with the given age dependency ratio, MMM will survive for another century or more without induced panic. The system was crafted based on mathematical permutation and real analysis. The same thing as the regulated banks, if there is an induced panic in the banks for instance; people will continuously withdraw their money without deposits the bank will crumble. Let me try to explain this in a simple way. Mr. A puts his money in and waits for a certain period before his money and additional 30% is allowed to be collected by him. Another person or people pay the funds back to Mr. A; the period he waited is equivalent to the extra 30% he got. It is simply time exchange for money. The system utilizes time to producing the extra 30% of his fund that is being paid to him. It is assumed that when he waits, more people will join the community. As at October, 2016, the MMM community had about 1.6million active participants, in November, 2016 it had grown to 3.3million active participants. It is also believed that older participants will do these: recycle the initial deposit plus the 30% , use the initial deposit to complete person entrepreneurial projects that will yield more funds, purchase products that will enrich another potential participant, bring in more funds from elsewhere into the community because he/she has seen that the system works and many more possibilities that will sustain it. It is also believed that some people will pull out finally but it is hoped that such number does not surpass the numbers of those entering; however, what ever the participants do with the money, it is believed that the money will circulate within the same economy that is a potential for the growth of MMM.

CONCLUSION

MMM has transformed lives, it has reduced poverty, it has increased the purchasing power of the people, it has increased liquidity, it has actualized dreams for families and many more good things. My question still is, why doesn’t the government play silence to this scheme that has helped her economy, why don’t the government design a similar but regulated scheme to compete with this brilliant innovative idea, why don’t they find a way to charge 5% vat on the 30%, why and why? But the truth is the government is too proud to associate itself with an idea generated by a man with an alleged past criminal record. I will advise that we let our guards down to embrace MMM and keep it alive.

Written by Isaac. V