United by Recession, Disillusioned by Rescission: The Political Economy of a Detribalised Financial Networking Scheme (MMM) in Nigeria

Abstract

There is no disputing the fact that Nigeria is a heterogeneous
society, comprising peoples of different ethnic, linguistic and
cultural backgrounds. Interestingly, the cords that bind most
Nigerians, in spite of these cleavages, have been some seemingly
‘insignificant’ ideas, concepts and issues like their unmatched
passion for football. Apart from the social import/impact of the
love for football, the economic situation in the country seems to
have brought on them a common fate and an uncommon unity.
Until recently, Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria was in a
recession, being its first in 20 years. Unfortunately, hyperinflation experienced in the past few years also increased the
spate of the ugly trend. It is against this backdrop that the MMM
Ponzi scheme made a grand and triumphant entrance into the
Nigerian investment market in 2016. Obviously, quite a lot has
been written concerning the MMM speculative scheme which
eroded the Nigerian financial space. Both the conventional and
the social media were awash with the various foreseeable gains
and pains associated with the scheme to the individual investors. In a departure from this narrative, this essay focuses on the
social integration value, the scheme engendered in the Nigerian
society through its networking. The methodology employed
consists of desk research including, inter alia, analysing books,
journal articles and newspaper articles. In addition, websites from
several local and international organisations relevant to the study
were also utilised