MMM Crash: Fear of Suicide Grips Lagos, LASEMA sends out emergency number

By Ovasa Ogaga, ————– December 13th, 2016 ————————–

Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA has send out emergency numbers to the public following the increased fear that many might attempt suicide as a result of the freezing of the MMM investment platform till January 2017.

It would be recalled that over three million Nigerians exposed to losses due to their “investment” in MMM, there are fears that the suicide rate in the country might rise, should the Ponzi scheme crash.

Following the collapse of MMM in Russia in the 90s, up to 50 people reportedly committed suicide, the same scenario played out in Zimbabwe where over 100 people also committed suicide and there are expectations that such a situation might arise if as expected the Ponzi scheme has collapsed in Nigeria.

In the past two months the illegal scheme receives a lot of patronage with its website being visited more often than Facebook in country, and with their recent upgrade of its percent for the month of December from 30% to 50%, many Nigerians invested heavily into the scheme expecting huge profits.

And the announcement on Tuesday by those behind it that accounts had been frozen for a month has led to panic among participants, whom many have planned to use their earnings for the month of December for the Christmas celebration.

As fear mount that those who would suffer financial ruin should the scheme fail to bounce back after one month, LASEMA has urged Lagosians to contact it once anyone is spotted attempting to commit suicide.

According to the agency, 112 is the number to call, should anyone attempts suicide.