NOSPETCO!: Dipo Tepede

NOSPETCO!

Average time to read3:56 minutes aprox.

«Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.» - Helen Keller

For all those who are not familiar with the above-subject head, it is simply an investment scheme where a fixed amount of money invested generates a fixed amount of interest every month. In this case (as of today), you place Four hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N450,000.00) with the company above and you get Forty Thousand Naira (N40,000) every month and your initial capital remains intact which you can withdraw at least 6 months after initial deposits. Wow! This a appears great especially for employees who have access to loan, up-fronts and bulk savings; but a deeper look into this scheme, the downside far out weighs the obvious jackpot!

The successes of schemes like this, reveals the values of an average Nigerian living in Nigeria- the craze for quick money without labor. The ability to out smart the system and come off as a financial independent being, is the prevailing index that filters down the thoughts of an average youth including me;

I remember engaging in a similar scheme during my National Youth Service Year (a compulsory one-year military programme designed to integrate various cultures in Nigeria), where I placed twenty five thousand naira (N25, 000) and I was promised Ninety Thousand Naira (N90, 000) at the end of 3 months and my initial deposit will remain intact. This initial deposit was the only savings I had which was a combination of income generated from pre-Youth Service Year and Housing Allowance offered to me by University of Uyo (My primary assignment). To cut to the chase, I lost the money!

I am sure you will be wondering, how stupid I was to do such a crazy thing. But stop to think of it, I am a very smart guy when it comes to money matters but the craze to be financially liberated actually blinded my eyes to see the intricacies of what I was getting into. I saw the proposed end not the process so I missed the obvious. The scheme had been running for two years fool proof and evidences of those who had participated where at my nook and corner but the whole scheme went under when I place my money there. My only savings!

I learnt a lot of lessons from this experience which I am willing to share with you.

1. God is not interested in a money making scheme where you personally learn nothing from. You are aware of what they do but you are not involved. I have never seen a man, that became wealthy, who puts his money in a scheme he is not involved in. You hear of people who made money from schemes but have you asked yourself how the person is faring after one-year of making the money. Is the person wealthier? The answer is NO! What happened was simply a gamble; all the guys that boasted of making money from the scheme I lost my money in, are not better than they were before.

2. Making money is very strategic; it involves a lot of wisdom, experience and tactics. Even if you decide to put your money in such scheme, should you put facilities obtained from the bank or your whole income in it? This describes how financially unintelligent you are because you have not managed the risk. I hear some employees say things like even if they lose the money they still have a job. I cringe when I hear this because they fail to see that their jobs are also investments which are risky; you put about 60% of your time on earth doing a job, you get some proceeds from it and you don't mind the way it goes. If you place some of your money in this scheme, even if it blows over, you always have something to fall back on.

3. Since putting you money in this scheme worked, you have simply formed a habit which is very hazardous. Your money is a representation of the time you give to an employer and tripling your money in scheme like this will eventually catch up with you in the long run. It is like Gambling; the casinos have worked the percentages out â€« they are sure you will loose at least 80% of what you win back in the casino. So is gambling your way through life, you will eventually loose what you make â€« itâ€™s a matter of time.

4. Be sure to have an insider in any company you invest in; preferably the secretaries. They know what goes on and will tell you when the company is falling apart so you can do the needful. I remember a friend telling me of how happy a business man was, when he was told to remove his money from a pending failed bank before it collapsed.

Nospetco Joint Venture Management Services is highly risky because you are not aware of their bi-annual or annual profit and loss statement. You are involved in the risk but not involved in the profit sharing for example during the one week strike, account holders were given Thirty thousand naira instead of forty because of strike and when the company makes higher profit you are still given forty thousand. Just this weekend a prospective account holder was telling me he will get his money back if the company folds up. This is the level of ignorance that exists amongst investors who failed to understand that they are part of the business once they invest their money.

All said and done, I am not against taking risk but managing risk since every venture is a risk. This prompted my thoughts to Fabian; « one of the star character of the popular «Cuando Seas Mia» whose guiding principle to any investment as «ALL OR NOTHING» which simply means its either you put all your money into any investment or don't put it all. Guess what? He ended up in Jail¦

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7067 comments

#7067. ADE
10 hours and 59 minutes ago

It is quite surprising that the so called people whom we referred to as members of the so called bodies EFCC,CBN,SEC and the like have totally forgotten that we are not fool.Enough of the fooling because we are wiser now.it is very clear that this event was staged.Despite knowing fully well that these monies are people's,they claimed to have received court injuction and never bother to ratify where these were from.They are actually playing with our intelligence but they will never live long and they shall definitely pay for all their attrocities one day.Nemesis shall catch up with them and they will never reap the friut of their labour.The whole committe and people involve know the fact that these monies belong to well meaning nigerian who have laboured very harh to invest their money but instead of been sensitive to the plight of all the investors,they satisfy their own greed.They will never rest and will not see rest until they refund all their ill gotten share of the investors money.
come to think of it,a committe was set up to investigate the whole saga and they have actually made a report but unfornately the parties that are actually involved are not updated on their findings but kept quiet and now the conscience is pricking on them .THEY WILL SUFFER FOR THIS.

#7066. babaguru
3 days ago

I think it high time every one lays to rest all issues concerning nospetco and other wonder banks. If we all waited for more than three years only for the fed govt to say the court gave orders to release money to these people then something is wrong somewhere. When I read the sunday punch report my heart sank but what can i do? Lets just leave everything to God because if we decide to fight, who do we fight with? do we know where Mayaki is, and if we do, do we get him arrested?, will that pay our money back? Its just a shame for the kind of country we find ourselves. Maddorf or whatever his name is got more than 50-yr jail sentence in the US yet Mayaki and his cohorts are walking talking and the useless regulatory authorities in our say country have the effrontery to tell us we may never be able to get our money back. What a sickening report!

#7065. sido
4 days ago

Waoh, our money is gone. Alhaji Maiyaki I know u must be fasting right now I prayed Allah in his mercies never accept your prayers because you made many pple cry and you can never see happiness in life. I know this spell we extend to ur families..

#7064. agazi
5 days ago

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N150bn wonder bank scam: Why investors may not get their money back
By Toyosi Ogunseye
Sunday, 29 Aug 2010

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CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi

Fresh indications have emerged that Nigerians who lost over N150bn to illegal fund managers may never get it back, SUNDAY PUNCH investigations have revealed.

The amount was allegedly channelled through about 450 fund managers, who promised their clients high returns on investment during the nation's banking consolidation exercise, which ended in October 2007. The Central Bank of Nigeria, under the superintendence of its former governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, kick-started the consolidation in 2004.

Indeed, no fewer than 600,000 people fell for the alleged untidy transactions.

Unfortunately, it would be difficult for the complainants to get their money back as most of the fund managers have got court injunctions to lift the freezing orders placed on their bank accounts by the Investment and Securites Tribunal.

A member of the inter-agency sub-committee of the Financial Services Regulatory Committee that investigated the complaints against the fund managers said that the committee's hands were tied because of the court orders.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said that it would have been possible for the victims to get their money back if the accounts of the fund managers were still frozen.

He said, »Immediately they got these court orders, they removed all the money they had in their bank accounts. If this money was still intact, it would have been possible to pay back the complainants.»

The source said that investigations by the committee showed that some of the court injunctions were not genuine.

»It is even sadder that these fund managers exploited the judiciary to deny people their hard earned money. We later discovered that some of the court injunctions they submitted to the banks were not genuine,» he said.

SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the inter-agency committee set up in 2008 to investigate the companies, had representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigeria police.

The committee, which submitted its interim report recently, noted that though many of the 450 fund managers were registered by the CAC, a good number of them were not licensed to operate as fund managers.

The SEC had laid the ground work for the committee's work when it placed an advertorial on Feb. 18, 2008 in major Nigerian newspapers, including The PUNCH, calling on investors who were yet to receive their share certificates and surplus money to report to its office.

Parts of the advert read, »To all investors in the Nigerian capital market who have not received their share certificates and surplus monies in respect of all public offers that closed on or before Oct. 31, 2007 are hereby advised to forward their complaints in writing to the Director-General of SEC.

»Please note that any public company found to have violated the commission's rules and regulations relating to the despatch of share certificates and return/surplus monies will have its listed securities suspended indefinitely from trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.»

Soon after the advert was published, no fewer than 600,000 Nigerians thronged the office of the SEC and the committee with their claims totalling N150bn.

Those who patronised the illegal fund managers did not, however, know that the advert was not meant for them. But it became an eye-opener, as it provided an avenue for them to realise that they had been swindled.

Among the companies linked to the alleged scam were Nospetco Oil and Gas Limited, Art Mater &Co. Limited, Cyber International Limited and Fortune Access Interlinks Network.

The source said, »Then, it was a merry period and there was a lot of excitement in the stock market. If the fund managers had stuck to a few customers, they might have been able to manage the situation but they took on more than they could chew.

»Most of them did not have the human resources and financial capability to manage the situation. They were just collecting money from people until they became overwhelmed and unfortunately, the stock market crashed.»

However, a financial analyst, Abimbola Adeseyoju, said, »All that money did not disappear and it is still within the system. It is a case of some fraudulent people collecting money from unsuspecting Nigerians and investing it in their personal business. Even when these fund managers paid interests, it was from the money of other investors.

»It is called the 'Ponzi scheme' – a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.»

Adeseyoju, who is the Chief Executive Officer of DataPro Ltd., noted that the action contributed to the recession in the economy.

He noted, »Apart from the fact that this fraud affected the integrity of financial institutions negatively, it also crippled businesses.

»Some people sold their properties to invest in the offers that promised interests that even the CBN could not pay.»

When contacted on the telephone, the chairman of the inter-agency committee, Mr. M.A. Adegbite, was not willing to comment on his committee's findings.

»We have submitted our final report to the CBN and I know that a press statement has been issued to that effect. I cannot make any further comments,» he said.

The spokesman of the NDIC, Mala Hadi Birchi, also declined to make comments. He said that the NDIC could not make individual comments because it was a collective investigation. The report of the committee, he added, was representative of each of the agencies involved.

However, the head, media and publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed that the commission was part of the investigations. He said, »Apart from the inter-agency committee report, we are presently prosecuting 50 of such cases and I can tell you that each of them has an average of N500m claims against it. Those 50 companies are also on the list of the committee's report. We are prosecuting them based on the complaints we received from the public. We have not received a request to prosecute companies on committee's list.»

The head, Media Relations at SEC, Mr. Lanre Oloyi, also confirmed that SEC was a part of the inter-agency committee that came up with the report. He said, »SEC is a member of the inter-agency committee and I'm aware of the report.

»As a commission, we always advise people to be careful of the fund managers they patronise.

»People should always check who they are investing their money with. If you are not sure, just come to the SEC before giving your money to anybody.»

The Head, Corporate Affairs of the CBN, Mr. Muhammed Abdullahi, in an earlier statement said that the inter-agency committee had mapped out strategies to address the menace in a comprehensive and sustainable manner through enhanced public communication, the use of court appointed liquidators and intensive surveillance by law enforcement agencies.

Comments :
•We invested in Nospetco more than N10M. Things were ok until CBN impounded them. Unfortunately CBN has been slow in reassuring the investors of what will eventually happen. It should be realized that the money came from people's hard work. I hope CBN will display more sensitivity in alleviating the suffering of us investors. We need the refund of this money with full interest in earnest. Please shorten our painful period.

Posted by: Femi olu , on Sunday, August 29, 2010

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•»We later discovered that some of the court injunctions they submitted to the banks were not genuine,» Why can't they verify? Who is Sanusi deceiving? let him go and deceive His family

Posted by: Dele Akala , on Sunday, August 29, 2010

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•One certainly admits there was a failure on the part of regulatory agecies, prticularly the SEC (and not CBN, because strictly speaking, the «wonder banks» were not licensed banks, and they didn't claim to be banks. they advertised themselves as investment coys) which should have issued a warning and enlightned the populace about the danger of Ponzi schemes at the onset. But i also feel little pity for people who expect to simply put their money somewhere, do no work and have their money double.

Posted by: Tope , on Sunday, August 29, 2010

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