E-Financial
MMM: Participants Worry as January 13 Draws Close

MMM, the Ponzi scheme also known as Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, sent its participants into panic last month when it announced that all accounts used by Nigerians had been frozen.
According to Daily Post, precisely on Tuesday December 13 2016, one day after the Eid-el-Maulud holiday, Nigerians woke up to the news which many MMM enthusiasts, who fondly call themselves Mavrodians, received with mixed feelings.
MMM had sent out the unexpected circular to all Nigerian users explaining why accounts will remain frozen for a period of 30 days.
The circular urged participants to be calm and unperturbed, saying the development was to help prevent any problems in transactions, among other reasons, during the New Year season.
With the duration expected to lapse on or before January 13, 2017, investors are anxiously looking forward to mid-January, with the hope that they finally will be able to have access to their accounts once again.
But while some participants say they believe the accounts would be reopened, others have remained in a worrying state, expressing doubts about the assurance given by MMM.
“My brother, I don’t sleep well these days. I cannot wait for middle of this month to hear and see the good news,” said a respondent who wishes to be identified only as Chuks.
“I blame myself for not totally resisting the temptation because I put money just 4 days before MMM froze accounts.
“My friends have been pledging, putting money and getting 30 per cent. Since it wasn’t hearsay, I eventually decided to give it a try with N500,000.
“My money is hanging now and I just want to get it back. I did for two weeks, so obviously my interest and profit is due for collection. Let MMM please unfreeze the accounts; I know millions too are waiting for that day.”
Another MMM investor, Toyin, told DAILY POST that she was confident the scheme would bounce back.
The self-employed lady in her early thirties further lectured our correspondent on why accounts were frozen.
“The December period is when many investors take their money and this would affect the aim of MMM which is to put money in people’s hands.
“Assuming the accounts were left open, 70 percent of people would have cashed out. The effect is that when people seek assistance, they will not get money in 9, 10 days, unlike normal circumstance when you can get within 48 hours.
“MMM foresaw this and from experience, they know that pledges reduces during Yuletide. It was a timely decision that Nigerians will still appreciate.”
On how the popular scheme works, Toyin said participants can register themselves or have someone do so for them.
“If you come to me that you want to invest and decide to pledge N100,000, I will help spread it. An amount can be shared into as many as 4 places or more, depending on what the computer generates.
“I pay on your behalf to those accounts and then inform the owners of your payment; I also send proof. After this process, I continue to monitor. This of course is why people like me get 5 percent referral bonus. I have 13 participants under me.
“Those who have thousands of participants under them are the Guiders. They are the MMM multi-millionaires; the ones you see buying cars, houses and living large.
“What I noticed is that many actually prefer to give money to others to invest because they don’t want to go through the stress of staying online or making payments. Theirs is just to see credit alert.”
Meanwhile, top MMM Nigerian guiders have continued to assure Nigerians that there is no cause for alarm.
While one, a self-styled Nigerian pastor, Ernest Chigozie Mbanefo, boasted that MMM will run smoothly until Jesus Christ comes, another threw a lavish end of the year party in Lagos, apparently to boost investors’ confidence that all is well.
Similarly, MMM founder Sergey Mavrodi, a fortnight ago warned critics to stop castigating the scheme.
“Leave MMM alone and let us work. Nothing has collapsed, and MMM will perfectly resume its work in January. We can change the world!” he asserted.
But President of Omega Fire Ministry, Apostle John Suleman, predicted doom for the Ponzi scheme in his prophecies for the year 2017, concluding that money-doubler will crash.
While investors and Nigerians await the next news about MMM, the arguable fact is that the current recession in the country helped to make the scheme popular in Nigeria.
But for MMM, the freezing of accounts in Nigeria does not stop it from launching in other countries as it recently did in Kenya and Ghana.
During the launch in Kenya, MMM noted that it is “a community of ordinary people, selflessly helping each other. The goal here is not the money. The goal is to destroy the world’s unjust financial system. Financial Apocalypse! Before you join, be sure to get acquainted with our IDEOLOGY!”
Before Nigeria, MMM had taken its message to other African countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 2016 though, South Africans who took part in the scheme had their accounts frozen and up till now, it has remained that way.
MMM was founded by Mavrodi, former Russian politician, who went on the run when the original MMM collapsed in the late 1990s. By different estimates, from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. The exact figures are not known even to the owners.
E-Financial
NIBBS: Banks Close 29.4m Accounts, Dormant Accounts Hit 33.39m

Banks in Nigeria closed 29.4 million accounts as of March 2025, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The figure represents a sharp year-on-year increase of 30.43 per cent from the 22.54 million closed accounts recorded in March 2024.
It also reflects a steady rise in account closures over recent months, with 33.29 million closed accounts reported in February 2025 and 29.43 million in January.
The report also revealed a significant increase in dormant accounts, which surged to 33.39 million in March 2025, up from 19.79 million in the same period in 2024, a 71.3 per cent rise in inactive accounts over the past year.
Despite the spike in closures and dormant accounts, the number of active bank accounts rose from 219.64 million in March 2024 to 320.05 million in March 2025, representing an increase of over 100 million, or 45.7 per cent.
NIBSS defines a dormant account as one that has seen no deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or point-of-sale transaction for a period of six months.
The surge in account closures and dormancy follows the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive issued in December 2023, mandating commercial banks to restrict Tier-1 accounts not linked to a Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) by March 1, 2024.
In response to the directive, BVN enrolment increased from 61.6 million in April 2024 to 66.23 million by July 2025, as more Nigerians rushed to meet the CBN’s compliance deadline.
E-Financial
Cardoso, CBN Boss Risks Arrest over Alleged N5.2 Trillion Unremitted Funds

The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives on Public Accounts and Public Assets has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over repeated failure to honour its invitations regarding the probe into non-compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and Finance Act 2020.

Olayemi Cardoso,, Gov, CBN
In a joint statement released on Friday and signed by Hon. Bamidele Salam and Hon. Ademorin Kuye, chairmen of the committees, the lawmakers decried the CBN governor’s continued disregard for legislative summons.
The committee is investigating the non-remittance of operating surplus as well as the mismanagement of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances.
According to the committee, the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation reported a liability of N5.2 trillion in unremitted operating surplus due to the federal government from 2016 to 2022; a claim corroborated by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in a separate submission to the National Assembly.
The committee cited provisions of the Finance Act 2020, which mandate that unclaimed dividends from publicly listed companies and dormant bank account balances older than six years be transferred into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund. The fund is to be managed by a Governing Council led by the Minister of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Contrary to this, the CBN maintains that the Financial Institutions Act 2020 empowers it to manage dormant balances.
However, the committee noted that the Attorney General of the Federation has issued a legal opinion affirming that the Finance Act 2020 remains the valid law guiding the management of such funds.
Following extensive submissions, the committee resolved that the CBN must remit N3.64 trillion, representing 70% of the undisputed N5.2 trillion operating surplus, within 14 days from receipt of its June 27, 2025, directive, pending final reconciliation of the disputed amount.
Additionally, the apex bank was directed to submit a detailed report on the total sum of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances by June 30, 2025.
The CBN was also ordered to transfer these funds into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund within 14 days and furnish the House with evidence of the transaction.
The lawmakers expressed frustration that, despite the clear directives and ample time, the CBN governor has failed to respond or appear before the joint committee to provide an explanation.
“In view of this continued defiance, the Committee will be compelled to exercise its constitutional powers to compel Mr. Olayemi Cardoso to appear before it,” the statement warned.
E-Financial
Moody’s Upgrades Ecobank’s Outlook to Stable

Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to stable from negative.
In the latest rating commentary, made available to media on Thursday, Moody’s also affirmed the pan-African banking group’s B3/Not Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings; B3 senior unsecured debt rating; b2 notional Baseline Credit Assessment and b1 Adjusted BCA.
ETI’s subsidiaries operate across 38 countries, including 35 African countries, and total assets of $28.9bn as of March 2025, details from the rating note highlighted. Moody’s said the decision to change the outlook to stable on the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings reflects ETI’s resilient financial performance.
The rating upgrade also takes into consideration higher dividends being upstreamed to ETI, resulting in lower double leverage and reduced refinancing risk.
The rating adjustment also reflects an expectation that the recapitalisation process of Ecobank Nigeria Limited will be completed by the end of 2025, with limited impact on the group’s financial fundamentals.
“The stable outlook also captures our expectation that a series of capital-boosting initiatives and actions to cure Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital position will be completed before the end of 2025”, according to the ratings agency.
In May 2025, ETI received shareholder approval to raise $250 million in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and announced the launch of the transaction effective 9 July 2025, of which a portion is expected to be downstreamed to Ecobank Nigeria as AT1 capital during Q3 2025.
Ecobank Nigeria’s plan to raise $200m in AT1 capital was noted in the rating note. The ratings analysts said they consider
“We also note that Ecobank Nigeria’s recent successful offer to tender $150m of its February 2026 $300 million notes and consent to remove the capital adequacy ratio covenant from this bond’s terms alleviates risks of an event of default in Nigeria that would trigger cross default at the ETI level. Over the past year, ETI has shown resilience in its financial performance, which supports our change in outlook to stable. Liquidity risks are being moderated by the group’s gradually improving profitability during 2024 and Q1-2025.
“This has translated into a 22 per cent increase in dividends upstreamed to ETI during 2024, these being received from 22 dividend-paying subsidiaries compared to just 14 in 2021,” the rating commentary revealed.
In turn, albeit high, ETI’s double leverage ratio, which measures the liquidity risk taken on by the holding company, as a result of it borrowing in order to invest in the equity of its subsidiaries, has eased to 168 per cent as of December 2024 from 173 per cent in 2023.
Additionally, the stable outlook reflects reduced liquidity risk at the holding company level with the refinancing of short-term liabilities in 2024 with longer-term funding.
Moody’s said this is underpinned by demonstrated market access, notably through senior unsecured notes issuance of $400m in October 2024 and a tap increase of $125m in May 2025, maturing in October 2029.
ETI’s B3 long-term issuer ratings affirmation reflects the affirmation of the group’s b2 notional BCA; the affirmation of the group’s b1 adjusted BCA as captured by a one-notch uplift for affiliate support, reflecting Moody’s assessment of a moderate probability that the firm’s major institutional shareholders would extend support to the group. Moody’s said asset quality for the group has improved over recent years.
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