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Of a truth, global financial system has not been fair and favourable to world citizens. It only rewards the few and make selected few rich at the expense of others. Nigeria’s financial system has been the worst seen in history, hardly will you save with any of Nigeria banks and you get a return on your savings. Every now and then, you keep paying for maintenance charges, SMS charges even when they greet you on your birthday your money is going to be deducted. There is nothing that you do within the Nigerian banking system today that goes for free. Every year, they (the banks) declare huge annual profits and this is a sign of a good financial year. But ask their staff how much is their salaries and allowances throughout the year; one will be ashamed to say the least. No entrepreneurs can approach these banks for loan and he/she will be able to meet up with the requirements. Are they fair to all? The answer is no.
Recently, CBN said they will publish the names of those who owe our banks. It is to be noted that only few Nigerians (not up to sixty) actually owe them over 5.5 trillion naira if I’m not mistaken. This is a world where poverty, unemployment, hunger, underemployment, malnutrition and world have you are the order of the day. Save any amount in the bank, they will deduct it to minus and you will regret saving your money.
So why will the citizens not think for themselves and come out with ideas that antagonize the already existing system of government or policies. Government, democracy, financial market, system, money and all we can see around us including the internet came from the citizens. So why is it that the governments people trusted and keep trusting are not working to better the lots of the people they govern? A whole lot of people have actually lost hope and confidence in the banking system hence many Nigerians that are involved in the MMM Scheme, nothing will make them to stop because already they are making more money which no bank can give in return. Some have made huge amount of money and in these days when you can hardly have interest on your savings, people tend to invest in a scheme (no matter scam it looks) that can give them 30% returns on their investment even if they don’t know what the company is selling. There has been no way or where the government has surpassed citizens’ intelligence, if they trust you up to a point and you cannot return their trust to better their living standard, they will create another alternative. The governments we found to secure us have been found to be our oppressors and deprive us of that very freedom. The greediness of the few which resulted into social injustice and non-access to commonwealth of the nation led some to become drug traffickers, the essence is to create their own legitimate money even though it is illegal.
When Mavrodi made mentioned of a revolution apocalypse, my mind quickly went to what led to American independence. First and foremost, the fight for American independence was not just about self-freedom but also about financial revolution. Jacob Garry said in his article, multiplying money, the Revolution was fought for the cause of freedom and one of the most prominent kinds of freedom the colonists sought was freedom to create money. England insisted that only British sterling be used as a medium of exchange in its colonies, but the colonies could not generate sufficient sterling from their one-sided trade with England, so they resorted to using Spanish dollars to supplement sterling. When this practice was banned by London, they resorted to furs, tobacco leaves, and even wampum beads as a supplementary medium of exchange. In desperation, the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690 became the first of the American colonies and one of the first governments in modern times to print their own paper currency notes denominated in pounds, shillings and pence. The practice was soon followed by all the other colonies. The British Parliament eventually outlawed the practice as both illegal and immoral in a series of acts, the last and most drastic completely banning the use of legal tender paper in 1764. War ensued as the result of a perpetual shortage of money to transact trade.
Today a similar revolution is brewing in the streets of Athens, Cyprus, Egypt, Madrid, Rome and Lisbon, and among rising numbers of unemployed youth in towns and villages throughout the world. Since the collapse of Mavrodi business during the last decade promising a huge returns of 200% on investment, will he win the world against financial system and probably the tool of controlling the world in this globalization and trade? From all indication and from the war in the Middle East, US and Russia have not known to be best of friends in the recent times. Will Russia want to use Mavrodi, a member of Russians State Duma to get at the Americans and the world at large? Time will tell.
Poverty was once an accepted, unchanging reality of life to which people resigned. Today that is no longer the case. The Human Aspiration is awake, expectations of a better life have percolated to all parts of the world and all levels of society. People are no longer either resigned or patient. Even in the poorest democratic societies, they want and urgently demand more. The signs of brewing revolution are reflected in the rising levels of discontent and unrest among unemployed youths and low income voters, among the rural landless and the urban poor, among the educated unemployed and the unskilled.
It is therefore not enough for CBN and other financial regulations or agencies to proclaim the scheme a scam, there is need for them to do more to ease people’s burden and rejig our financial system including laws and resolutions to favour the common man. If common man can save his money and get a 15% interest within a month or so, he will not think of investing in a scam. Instead of declaring huge profits at the end of every financial year, our banks should invest more on their staff, pay good interest to their customers and contribute to their corporate social responsibilities which is lacking. Thos who control the world financial markets should rethink in term of empowering the populace and not just hide under development without any tangible evidence on the people. The world is breeding more poor citizens and communities more than ever before.
Casey Olugbenga Adeleye is the founder/National Coordinator of the Youth Crime Watch of Nigeria African Centre for Citizens Orientation, an NGO in special consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). He’s also the Chief Strategy Officer, Pan African Institute for Entrepreneurship and Community Development.
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