Still, there is a lot to be thankful for. And so, in our special version of ’12 days of Christmas’, we’ll remind you – with the Good News only – of the reasons why things have not all been bad so far.

Without further ado:

2016 sent to us:

Help from MMM;

The release of 21 Chibok girls;

Some N-powerment;

The Dream Team;

The Clean Up;

a teenage technovator;

PENCOM getting it right;

Wizkid’s international status;

Ayodele Dada;

The Number 1 best female football team in Africa;

MMM; the Ponzi scheme that saved thousands

When MMM Nigeria was introduced mid-year, there was no question whether Nigerians were going to join the scheme. The question was by how many thousandths were they going to join and if the government was going to weigh in one way or the other.

Even those questions became mute a few weeks in: hundreds of thousands of Nigerians joined and the government did weigh in – to send out messages warning Nigerians to avoid the scheme.

Perhaps it was the fact that even the elitist corporate citizens joined in raking home 30% profits on a regular basis.  The subscription that the scheme has enjoyed is only a testament to how much Nigerians were groaning under the economic hardships that the government failed woefully to manage.

MMM profits kept the best Nigerians off the streets begging for alms the many times that pay day failed to show up. It also helped to create safe landing for the many who no longer had savings but still had to survive with the constantly rising costs of living countrywide.

So notwithstanding the frozen status quo, the scheme has actually provided more help than we can imagine in a year when the definition of bleak became became the reality for many Nigerians.