Just yesterday at the ongoing 30th Lagos International Trade
Fair, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim the Chief Executive Officer Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), warned the general public against the habit
of wanting to make ‘quick monies’ thereby patronizing illegal funds managers
and Ponzi schemes and networks otherwise
known as ‘wonder banks’.
Alhaji Umaru while speaking during
the NDIC special day at the fair tagged “Positioning the Nigerian Economy for
Diversification and Sustainable Growth”, raised concerns that a lot of people
still fall victims in these schemes despite repeated warnings especially when
these illegal funds managers entice them with outrageous and mouth-watering interests
for sums which on a good day would not yield such interests within very short
periods as proposed to them.
Sometimes you wonder why people
still fall for these schemes. Having been around for a while, I mean ‘around’
as per age, there is nobody, I mean ‘nobody’ that will convince me on these
schemes anymore. Not in this lifetime.
Many years ago, when one of the
networking schemes started, I was told all kinds of things including how
powerful some of the so called herbal and organic products were. So ‘yours
sincerely’ invested in some of those networks and their products. And did I get
my fingers burnt? Of course I did and even got not only my fingers –just for
emphasis- but my whole hand burnt in the process. Many of the ‘always very
expensive’ products could not be sold, neither was I able to use them all
before they got expired. And till date, some of the testimonies I heard are
still not verifiable. God is watching all those fake ‘networkers’ who waste
peoples’ time and monies. No need for long stories.
A quick rewind. As a teenager and
back in secondary school, I remember how some of my teachers invested their
hard earned monies in some of those ‘wonder banks’ after a teacher arrived the
school one morning with a new Peugeot 505 and said she bought it from earnings realized
from the then scheme and like a spell, the whole school and nearly all the
teachers went wild with investing not only salaries but borrowed as well as
they were told the more they invested, the more interests would be realized at the
end of the period. As time went on, some people made money and reinvested while
some others stopped and another group did not only reinvest their earnings but
went on to borrow even more and just when more people started having faith in
the schemes, the wonder banks ‘closed shop’ one day and ‘zapped’ with all
investors’ monies leaving them dried, drained and out.
Interestingly, one of the banks was
known as ‘Zap bank’ and I remember how we used to joke and say “that’s how you
will later zap off with my money”. For a lot of people, it was funny but for
those who were affected in one way or the other; it was no-joke at all as some
of them never recovered from their losses. A few of them eventually died from
shock while some of them left the country with their families as they couldn’t repay
the debts owed from ‘over borrowing’ to invest in the scheme. Another long
story.
Fast forward to years later while
working in an organization in Lagos. Some colleagues started again on a new
scheme where monies are doubled when you invest. Aha! I knew it was another ‘Zap’
wonder bank repackaged. Again there were warnings which fell on deaf ears and
not too long after, the song ‘had I known’
was the only thing heard everywhere. People got into trouble again. Yet many
never learnt lessons.
Now nearly a decade after, it beats
me to hear, see and know that people still run after these schemes. Human beings
are interesting!
And so the latest warnings from NDIC
is no news as the general public has heard it over and over again and as a
matter of fact has become a ‘broken’ record to their ears. This means it will
still fall on ‘deaf’ ears as many are still bent on investing and reinvesting
even as you read this especially at a time such as we have in the country at
the moment where families can barely feed even as many have committed suicide
in the face of harsh hunger given the recession. I bet you, wonder banks will
still thrive and you will continue to hear about how one man was able to buy a
car or build a house from the scheme whilst it’s still on. But you will never
hear about the ones who lost houses and cars due to their investing in the
schemes until the illegal funds managers have ‘zapped’ eventually. That’s when
you will hear all the tales of woes.
What more can I say?
If I say ‘don’t invest’ many would
say ‘hold it there’. If I say ‘invest what you can let go’ so that it won’t
hurt too much if it fails, many would say ‘why invest in such things at all if
you fear it may fail?
We all love money and therefore strive
to become rich but such ‘overnight’ wealth is not ‘my thing’. So all I can say
is “JUST BE CAREFUL EVERYONE”.
Enough said already!
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