Mazi Chibuo Omenukwa, addressing the gathering during the Sunday event shortly before cutting the cake for the ceremony. Photo Credit: Tony Adibe
By Tony Adibe
The National Reading Culture (NRC) Limited, said to be a task-based “read-and-earn” platform targeting Nigerians with promises of daily mouth-watering income for reading digital novels, has crashed like a pack of cards, leaving at least three million people in tears and lamentation.
Reports said that panicky investors have been unable to withdraw their funds since Tuesday 7 July 2026, when they were supposed to formally withdraw money. The operation: Users were required to pay “VIP level” registration deposits (ranging from ₦18,900 to ₦174,000) and complete simple reading tasks daily to earn supposedly high, guaranteed returns.
The Outcome: The site suddenly shuts down and operators disappeared, leading to the loss of billions of naira for users. This rather unfortunate development comes after the NRC Limited just organized a seminar which they tagged JobFair inside the Bishop C.V.C Onaga Hall at the St. Paul’s (Old Church), Off Agbani Road near Mayor Market, Enugu on Sunday, July 5, 2026.
The Leader, Team Technova National Reading Culture (NRC) Limited in Nigeria’s SouthEast Zone, Mazi Chibuo Omenukwa, who addressed the gathering boasted that the company has recruited three million Nigerians working for it so far, and is still searching for more workers. Mazi Omenukwa said the objective of the JobFair was to create necessary awareness about the activities of the company and encourage more people to join in their own financial interest and that of the company’s.
According to him, the company operates in 30 countries of the world and wondered how such a firm with wide network would fizzle out like vapour. He debunked the rumour that the NRC would soon shut down since it’s a Ponzi scheme, insisting that it was more an NGO set up to help people improve their finances, hence the slogan: “NRC, Leading Us to Success!”
“All these people who said that their pastors saw a vision that NRC LTD will close down; they are fake Pastors and false prophets. Tell your pastors that a company that recruited three million workers can just shut down like that,” boasted Omenukwa, who added that the company deserved due attention of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Omenukwa said the only place company, which he said, was formally registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C) has office in the entire Nigeria was in Lagos.
“NRC has the only office in Lagos located at LakePoint Corners, Banana Island, Ikoyi , Lagos. That’s where they are but the truth of the matter is that they are doing what they said they will do for the people,” he explained.
“We started from nothing and now by February 2025, NRC Ltd employed one million Nigerians. Then in May, they employed two million Nigerians. They were celebrated and then the last milestone was the one that happened in July 1, 2026, they employed three million Nigerians; it’s not a mean feat. So, these people working for NRC are Nigerians, and it’s not a joke,” said the Team Leader, who recalled that he joined the online company in August 2025.
In a brief interview with NewsBits shortly after the event, Mazi Omenukwa, who spoke on the modus operandi of NRC Ltd, which he said was founded in the United States of America, explained that the company’s operations are performed online, but lack of necessary publicity, has limited the scope of its awareness among the larger Nigerian populace.
He said: “Yes. The job we do at NRC is online. Books have gone online now. People will find it more convenient to read books online now. So NRC is one of the many companies that do this. So, what do they do? They simply accord products of the clients ranking in the market to improve company exposure for which they get advertising commissions. Then we are the ones who do the work. We click to it and I am sure you too click to it. You do your clicking daily and when you do; you are doing your work.”
According to him, the NRC is creating jobs, although such jobs might not be easily visible as its operations are online. “It may not be visible in practical terms because it’s online. Therefore, you won’t see NRC office in Enugu, or Umuahia or Aba, here and there on the ground as an existing structure. It’s online operation. NRC has the only office in Lagos located at LakePoint Corners, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos. That’s where they are but the truth of the matter is that they are doing what they said they will do for the people,” he explained.
What is the actual target of NRC in terms of job creation or recruitment of workers and members? Mazi Omenukwa, however, could not specify what the target is, but he insisted that the company needed more workers, in spite of having recruited three million Nigerians so far.
“We need more workers otherwise we won’t be holding job fairs. Tomorrow we will hold another job fair and it’s just like that,” he said, adding: “The essence of the job fair is to create awareness about the NRC Ltd and what it does to the people; to tell people about NRC; how it can be useful to them and how they can be useful to the company. That is the essence of the job fair, and this Job-Fair is funded by them. Any offline activity you want to hold that would bring more people to join NRC Ltd, the company will fund such activity.”
During the JobFair, new members were formally registered while the old ones got more enlightened by the various speakers who addressed the gathering.
NewsBits reports that the Sunday Job-Fair that attracted close to 200 people, which was just part of the entire population in Enugu, was among the several Job-Fairs which NRC Ltd has organized and would, apparently, be organizing in the weeks to come across the southeast zone to recruit more workers and members who are called ‘subordinates’ in the company’s parlance.
But despite Omenukwa’s chest-beating, the bubbles began to burst on Tuesday when investors were supposed to withdraw their funds, suddenly realized that the Ponzi scheme has crashed like others that operated before it. And there have been panic and lamentation from victims of the scam everywhere. A beautician at Idaw-River Layout, Enugu who was said to have threw all her life savings into NRC shortly before it went under, is reportedly contemplating taking her life.
Uzo, one of the victims wrote on the platform opened for the “NRC subordinates.” Uzo wrote angrily: “The idiot had the guts to provide an account number for my sister to send her top up money when she lied that she has done for one of her accounts, meanwhile, she had just one account, and never did any top up.”
BB London wrote: “Pls, where Maziii; at least make he show us luv small. NRC don finish us. I am going to drink pill”
Amarachi ANEKE wrote: “Life is all about risk. No RISK NO GAIN. Some made it while some didn’t. Nothing spoil. It is well with us. The downfall of à man is not the end of his life.
Pick up your pièces and continue your race.
This one has thought us à great lesson on how to run ponzi scheme next time because we’re going to take such risk again next time but make, I hear the information on time.
Had it been I heard about NRC in December or January and also joined immediately by now, I would have made it réal big.
Am waiting for another PONZI SCHEME.
To us that lost plenty money, may God help us recover it fast in double folds in Jesus name Amen.”
NRC Ponzi scheme has crashed. I never knew so many people invested in that scheme. Tears everywhere
But why should a national TV like @NTANewsNow be advertising a Ponzi scheme?
However, angry investors have posted on the platform the account numbers into which victims reportedly transferred their money during their transactions with NRC. The idea is to see if people could track the operators of the account numbers, many alleged, have gone underground.
THIS INFORMATION IS REGARDING THE ACCOUNT NUMBERS PEOPLE WERE PAYING MONEY INTO TO RECHARGE THEIR ACCOUNT IN NRC
Yes. Paga can trace those account numbers.
Here’s how it works: ### *1. Can Paga see who owns `3240065950`, `1043063751`, `3488486276`?*
Yes.
Every Paga account with “KUDI BUY LTD” had to do BVN + NIN + ID + CAC verification when it was opened.
So Paga has the real person’s name, phone number, BVN, address, and transaction history behind those 3 accounts.
### *2. Will Paga give YOU the owner’s details directly?*
No. Because of NDPR/data privacy law, Paga cannot just send you someone’s details.
But *Paga WILL release the info to:*
- *Your bank* – If your bank sends them a fraud request
- *EFCC / Police* – If there’s an official report + letter of request
- *Court order*
That’s why reporting is so important.
### *3. What you need to do to get Paga to trace it*
*Step 1: Report to your bank first*
Call your bank’s fraud line. Say: “I was defrauded and sent money to Paga accounts 3240065950, 1043063751, 3488486276 – Account name KUDI BUY LTD. Please place a lien and send a fraud request to Paga.”
*Step 2: Report to EFCC*
EFCC will send Paga an official letter demanding KYC details and transaction history. Paga is legally required to respond.
*Step 3: Report to Paga directly too*
Email: `su*****@****ga.com` or call `0700-000-7242`
Tell them: “These 3 accounts are being used for fraud. Case is with EFCC and my bank. Please flag and freeze them.”
### *Important reality check*
- *Tracing ≠ automatic refund*. If the money has already been withdrawn, it’s hard. But tracing can lead to arrests and freezing other accounts.
- *Speed matters*. The faster your bank/EFCC flags them, the better chance to catch money before it moves.
more ↓
So, NRC has crashed.
The funny thing is, someone had been seriously persuading me to join. She wanted me to register, but I refused. She explained everything, but I still wasn’t convinced. She even went ahead and registered me with her own money, expecting me to pay her back later. I simply told her, “Take the account and manage it yourself. I’m not interested.”
From that day, she stopped talking to me.
I just heard that the platform has crashed, and people have lost their money.
The painful part is that people hardly ever learn. Give it some time, another platform will come with a different name, make the same promises, and many people will still rush into it. My colleague had over ₦2 million invested in NRC.
I warned him that it would crash very soon because he joined late, but he insisted everything was fine. His confidence came from the fact that his pastor introduced him to it, and many members of their church had also invested.
What surprises me now is that, even after everything that has happened, he still believes it’s just a temporary issue with the website. He hasn’t accepted that the platform has crashed…
