Media experts take a look at the role of the media in combatting misinformation in the fake news era.
Is voting compulsory in Australia?
An image has been shared repeatedly on social media alongside a claim that voting is compulsory in Australia.
The post as seen on WhatsApp on Thursday, September 3, says there is a penalty for not voting in the country. The image shows four individuals, each standing in front of what looks like a voting booth.
The text “Voting is compulsory in Australia and that citizens are fined if you do not vote” is written on it.
THE CLAIMS:
Claim 1: That voting is compulsory in Australia.
Claim 2: That Australian citizens are fined if they don’t vote.
THE FINDINGS:
Claim 1
The FactCheckHub subjected the viral image to an internet search through TinEye, an online tool to verify images. The search result showed the viral picture is original, though resized and text added. The image was first published on the internet on October 9, 2014, by Getty Images.
The Australian Electoral Commission, AEC, a body that maintains the country’s electoral system notes that the eligibility for voting is from 18 years old.
The commission under ‘Enrollment under the Electoral Act‘ states that “An ‘elector’ is someone whose name appears on the electoral roll. The Electoral Act requires Australian citizens aged 18 years and over to be enrolled.”
It also added that voting is compulsory “Failure to vote in an election is an offence under subsection 245(15) of the Electoral Act unless the elector has a valid and sufficient reason for that failure (see subsection 245(15B) of the Electoral Act.
Similarly, subsection 45(1) of the Referendum Act provides that: ‘it is the duty of every elector to vote at a referendum’.”
Those who are unable to vote on the election date at a polling unit are given alternatives such as early voting or postal votes. There is also mobile polling service except the citizen is moving abroad indefinitely. Even, with this exception, the AEC has a system that enables its citizens overseas to re-enrol for voting so far the individual would return to Australia and reside at his or her residence for a month.
about Australian civics and citizenship.
Claim 2
Failure to partake in the voting exercise would often attract sanction such as fines.
The AEC produces a range of products and resources to support teaching and learning about Australian civics and citizenship. In one of such publications titled ‘Voting in Australia’, responding to the question What happens if I don’t vote? It states that “After each election, all non–voters will be sent a letter requesting they provide a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote, or pay a fine.”
It also added that voting was made compulsory in 1924 in response to low voters turnout, while noting that the country now gets around 94 per cent voters turnout.
A 2018 news report by the New York Times affirmed that voting is obligatory in Australia. A compilation of personal accounts of some Australians published by the United States-based publication, notes how critics held divergent views to the Australian Government’s stance on the compulsory voting.
“I once accidentally missed a local election. I was sent a letter asking me why I didn’t vote. I wrote back, explaining I was commuting out of town for work and missed the local ads, and they didn’t fine me,” Heather Pate from Perth, Western Australia told the New York Times.
Voting, according to the report, is likened to a party at weekends which the locals tag ‘Democracy Sausages’. The election day is also usually fixed on Saturdays.
The AEC has several alternatives to ensure the citizens can vote. It also provides an avenue for a fair hearing in situations where a citizen could not partake in the voting exercise. But, failure to vote attracts fines.
THE VERDICT
The claim that voting is compulsory in Australia is TRUE.
The claim that Australian citizens are fined if they don’t vote is TRUE.
Claim that mobile networks in Nigeria are giving free data is FALSE
A post have been shared repeatedly on social media claiming that people can get free 5GB data bundle by visiting a particular website.
The claim which was shared widely in Nigeria, further stated that the free data is available on all the networks.
The post as seen in a WhatsApp group reads: “Grab your Free 5GB Data Bundle today for the month of August and September. I just received mine now. Get yours now before it Ends…” while directing people to a link.
THE CLAIM:
That people can get free 5GB data bundle on all networks for the month of August and September.
THE FINDINGS
In a bid to verify the claim, The FactCheckHub tried to check the website where the free data is said to be, but got a notification from Avast antivirus that the website is infected.
The FactCheckHub also reached out to network providers in Nigeria to confirm if they are giving out free data bundle as contained in the claim.
Bayagbon Erhumu, the Head of Corporate Communications, Airtel Nigeria, debunked the claim. He said “It is not true, please. Nothing like that from our end.”
Similarly, a customer care representative for MTN who identified himself as Abidemi said that they do not have such an offer.
“Thank you for contacting us at MTN customer care. I appreciate you for bringing this to our attention. Kindly be informed that the offer is not from us. Do disregard it. Kind Regards,” Abidemi stated in a mail to The FactCheckHub.
A 9mobile customer care representative who responded to The FactcheckHub also said the network provider is not affiliated with the offer.
“Thank you for contacting us. We offer various promotions and incentives to our customers however, we are not affiliated with the below incentive. I can confirm that our data offers of this volume are usually attached to a device purchase from our experience centers or selected outlets,” the 9mobile customer care representative stated in reply to a mail from The FactCheckHub.
In addition, a Glo customer care representative also debunked the claim, “With respect to your mail below, we advise that you kindly disregard the promo as it is not from our end.”
THE VERDICT:
The claim that people can get free 5GB data bundle on all networks for the month of August and September is FALSE.
Did the Bank of Kigali appoint an Igbo man Obinna Ukwuani as Chief Digital Officer?
ON September 1, Unu Amaro Kam Siri Kwado @AfamDeluxo made a post that Obinna Ukwuani an Igbo man has been appointed the Chief Digital Officer of the Bank of Kigali, in Rwanda.
The post had other assertions that another Nigerian, Kaycee Madu, was appointed Minister of Justice in Canada and that an Igbo man stand a better chance of succeeding outside Nigeria.
The tweet reads: “Bank of Kigali has appointed an Igbo man, Obinna Ukwuani, as it Chief Digital Officer. Few days ago, Kaycee Madu, was appointed as Minister of Justice in Canada. As an Igbo man, you stand a better chance of reaching greater heights outside Nigeria.”
The tweet has pulled over 2,000 likes, 502 retweets and over 60 comments as at press time.
The claim about the appointment of Obinna was also made by @AfricaFactsZone which has garnered over 2,300 likes.
THE CLAIMS:
Claim 1: Bank of Kigali has appointed an Igbo man, Obinna Ukwuani as its Chief Digital Officer.
Claim 2: A Nigerian, Kaycee Madu was appointed as Minister of Justice in Canada
Claim 3: Igbos stand better chance of succeeding outside Nigeria.
THE FINDINGS:
Claim 1
The FactCheckHub visited the Twitter handle of Obinna Ukwuani @oukwuani and found out that the new appointment – Chief Digital Officer, Bank of Kigali was updated on Ukwuani’s profile.
He also included previous organisations he had worked with such as Paystack, Nova Pioneer and the school he attended– Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Aside from the update on his social media account, A report announcing the new appointment was published by The New Times – a news medium in Rwanda. He was featured on the business section. His responsibilities, the report said would include, “leading the digital factory division of the bank, for product innovation and development in digital banking.”
In the verification process, The FactCheckHub observed The New Times newspaper tagged the handle of the Bank of Kigali @BankofKigali while tweeting the published article and the bank retweeted it.
In addition, Ukwuani also acknowledged some of the congratulatory wishes made on Twitter including that of Unu Amaro – the claim under review.
The FactCheckHub contacted Ukwuani to verify if he is an Igbo man as asserted and he said “I was born and raised in the United States. My home in Nigeria is Ngwo, Udi, Enugu. That is where my name is from,” he stated in response to a Direct Message sent to his social media handle.
Enugu is a state in Eastern Nigeria where the people are Igbos.
Claim 2
The claim that Nigerian Kaycee Madu was appointed as Minister of Justice in Canada trended when the news came out, with several persons, including media organisations wrongly attributing him as Canada’s Minister of Justice.
The FactCheckHub did a verification that found out that Kaycee Madu is the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, a province in Canada.
Claim 3
The claim that as an Igbo man, you stand a better chance of reaching greater heights outside Nigeria is an opinion with no verifiable data yet.
THE VERDICT:
The claim that the Bank of Kigali has appointed an Igbo man, Obinna Ukwuani as its Chief Digital Officer is TRUE.
The claim that a Nigerian, Kaycee Madu was appointed as Minister of Justice in Canada is TRUE. He is however the Minister of Justice in Alberta, a province in Canada.
The claim that Igbos stand better chance of succeeding outside Nigeria is an opinion and does not have any verifiable data.
Will Nigeria’s unemployed population rank 9th most populous country in Africa?
A post on Twitter claimed that Nigeria’s unemployed population can make up a country that will rank the 9th most populous country in Africa.
The claim was made by a twitter user @Chxta on August 20.
He asserted further that Nigeria will still be the most populated country even if its unemployed people are moved out of the country to create another country.
The tweet reads: “If we take unemployed people in #Nigeria to create their own country, it would be number 9 in #Africa, and the rest of Nigeria would still be the most populated on the continent.”
THE CLAIMS:
From the tweet, these two claims were established:
Claim 1: That Nigeria’s unemployed population would rank number 9 most populous country in Africa.
Claim 2: That Nigeria would still remain the most populous country when the unemployed population is excluded.
THE FINDINGS:
Claim 1:
In a bid to verify the claim, The FactCheckHub first checked the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website for the data on Nigeria’s labour statistics to determine the total number of unemployed people in the country.
According to the latest statistics on Nigeria’s labour force released by the NBS for 2nd quarter (Q2) of 2020, Nigeria currently has 21,764,617 unemployed people.
The NBS categorised the unemployed people under two types; the unemployed people working between 1-19 hours and those doing practically nothing. Those working between 1-19 hours made up 12,395,364 of the unemployed population while those doing nothing are 9,369,253.
The FactCheckHub checked the top ten most populous countries in Africa to determine if the number of unemployed people in Nigeria – 21.8 million – can make the 9th most populous country on the continent.
The FactCheckHub checked the Worldometer – a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics and the World Bank for data on African countries and their population.
The World Bank data as at 2019 for the ten most populated countries in Africa are Nigeria — 200,963,599, Ethiopia — 112,078,730, Egypt — 100,388,073, Dr. Congo — 86,790,567, South Africa — 58,558,270, Tanzania — 58,005,463, Kenya — 52,573,973, Uganda —44,269,594, Algeria — 43,053,054, and Sudan — 42,813,238.
As at August 25, 2020, Worldometer data on the population of African countries had the a higher figure for each country and with each one maintaining it’s position except for South Africa and Tanzania that swapped position.
From the data, Nigeria ranked the most populous country on the continent with 206,139,589 people, followed by Ethiopia that has 114,963,588 population, Egypt is the third most populous country in Africa with 102,334,404 population, DR Congo 4th with 89,561,403 other most populous countries in the continent are; Tanzania, 5th with 59,734,218 population, South Africa 6th with 59,308,690, Kenya 7th with 53,771,296, Uganda 8th with 45,741,007, Algeria 9th with 43,851,044 and Sudan 10th with 43,849,260.
From the data gotten from the World Bank and Worldometer, the 9th most populous African country is Algeria with 43,053,054 and 43,851,044 in 2019 and 2020 respectively. This therefore means that the number of unemployed people in Nigeria which stands at 21,764,617, when made into a country would not be the 9th most populous country in Africa, which makes the claim to be FALSE.
Claim 2:
In a bid to check if Nigeria would still remain the most populous country if number of employed people in the country is removed, The FactCheckHub checked the number of Nigeria’s current population, which is 206,139,589 according to 2020 Worldometer ranking and 200,963,599 according to the 2019 World Bank ranking.
The FactCheckhub then deducted the number of Nigeria’s current unemployed population, which according to the latest statistics on Nigeria’s labour force stands at 21,764,617 and the difference is 184,374,972 and 179,198,982 respectively. This is still more than the total number of the second most populous country in Africa.
According to Worldometer and World Bank rankings, Ethiopia is the 2nd most populous country in Africa with 114,963,588 and 112,078,730 populations respectively. If compared with Nigeria’s population excluding the number of unemployed people, Nigeria would still be the most populous country in Africa.
THE VERDICT:
From the information presented above, the claim that Nigeria’s unemployed population would rank number 9 most populous country in Africa is FALSE.
Also, the claim that Nigeria would still remain the most populous country in Africa when the unemployed population is excluded is TRUE.
Are 90 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty?
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, said that 90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
The claim was published on Twitter on August 27, 2020.
In one of the series of tweets, Moghalu, a former Presidential Candidate, on the platform of Young Progressive Party (YPP) in the country’s 2019 general election wrote: “90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty and the country is essentially bankrupt not because we don’t have brilliant economists, but because our politics and leadership are a grand fraud. Prosperity requires nationhood, first, followed by strong, effective institutions”.
THE CLAIM:
That 90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty and the country is essentially bankrupt not because we don’t have brilliant economists, but because our politics and leadership are a grand fraud. Prosperity requires nationhood, first, followed by strong, effective institutions.
— Kingsley Moghalu (@MoghaluKingsley) August 27, 2020
THE FINDINGS:
The United Nations defines Extreme poverty, also known as Absolute or Abject poverty as, “a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.” This description is contained in chapter two, item 19, page 38 of the World Summit for Social Development WSSD 1995 agreement, held in Copenhagen.
A 2016 World Bank report done in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) titled ‘Ending Extreme Poverty: a Focus on Children’ benchmark extreme poverty as those living on less than $1.90 per day.
The World Bank Commission on Global Poverty also defined extreme poverty as those living below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day.
The international poverty line is the universal standard for measuring global poverty that helps measure the number of people living in extreme poverty while comparing poverty levels between countries.
Poverty lines across countries differs as such the revision of the purchasing power parities (ppp) in 2017 by the International Comparison Program (ICP) brought about an array of benchmarks, this grouped countries into low, mid and high income.
However the international poverty line was still pegged at $1.90 per day while lower middle Income class poverty line has a value of US$3.20 and upper middle income class poverty line has a value of US$5.50.
Meanwhile, in 2018, the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC-based non-profit organisation had projected that Nigeria would surpass India’s 73 million citizens living in extreme poverty. As of then, extreme poverty in Nigeria, the institute noted was ‘growing by six people every minute.’
By June 2018, Nigeria became poverty capital of the world with about 86.9 million people living in extreme poverty.
Checking Moghalu’s claim , the World Poverty Clock, – a web tool produced by World Data Lab – shows half -50%- of Nigeria’s population are living in extreme poverty based on the $1.90 benchmark.
The result says “102, 125, 917 people living in extreme poverty,” and of these number “51,623,790 are males, while 50,502,127 females.”
As at August 30, the tool placed Nigeria’s population to be over 205 million (205,323,504).
Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics gives a slightly higher number at 206 million (206,139,589) as at August 30.
A look at the World bank ‘Poverty & Equity Data Portal’ poverty headcount ratio shows that Nigeria has a record of having half of its population living in extreme poverty.
The portal shows that 53.5% of the population were living below the poverty line in 2003 and in 2009. It gives Nigeria’s population as 190.9 million and 195.9 million in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
This implies that the figure provided by Moghalu is lower to the current figure.
THE VERDICT:
Based on the information presented above the claim that 90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty is MOSTLY TRUE, this is because the figure is higher. More than 90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
Did Sale Mamman raise $1.6billion for TREP within one year as Nigeria’s Minister of Power?
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman, had on August 25, 2020, made a tweet thread to mark his one year anniversary in office. The tweets were accompanied with infographs detailing his achievements since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2019.
One of the infographs with a screaming headline “Key achievements of Federal Ministry of Power under Engr. Sale Mamman” and a rider headline “1 year anniversary” presented the achievements in two categories – Infrastructural Alignment reflecting the Siemens Deal and the Transmission Enhancement Programme under which it states that the ministry working with key partners raised $1.6 billion for the ongoing (electricity) Transmission, Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).
“Federal Ministry of Power working with key partners; World Bank, AfDB, JICA raised $1.6 billion for Transmission on Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) ongoing” it stated.
It went on to delineate five projects under the TREP. This, alongside other achievements, was attributed as part of Mamman’s accomplishment within his first year in office.
THE CLAIM:
That the Ministry of Power under Engr. Sale Mamman raised $1.6 billion for the ongoing Transmission, Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) bewteen August 2019 to August 2020.
THE FINDINGS:
TREP is a strategy which is expected to rehabilitate and expand the nation’s (electricity) transmission infrastructure in order to stabilize the grid for optimum performance, in line with international best practices, through massive investment. TREP is also expected to expand the capacity of the Transmission Grid to 20,000MW by 2021, says a Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) document on the project.
In 2018, the Managing Director of TCN, Usman Mohammed, when he presented the company’s 2018 scorecard to State House correspondents in Abuja, said “We have established transmission, rehabilitation and expansion programme. The main objective of this is to rehabilitate, stabilise and expand the delivery capacity of TCN to at least 20,000 megawatts by 2021 and we are on track”.
This was prior to the commencement of Mamman’s tenure as the Minister of Power. He was appointed by President Buhari in August, 2019. He took over the Ministry of Power from Babatunde Fashola, who was the then Minister overseeing the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (FMPWH) during the first tenure of the democratically-elected Buhari presidency.
In addition, the TCN published a scorecard titled “Milestones from February 2017 to September 2018,” which shows detail of the funding support two years before Mamman became the minister.
The $1.6 billion donor support was from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) while the French Development Agency also supported with a $170 million commitment for the Abuja Transmission project.
The document which stated that the TCN Management in February 2017 under UG Mohammed, established the (TREP) went on to delineate the status of implementation of donor-funded projects as at September 2018.
It states that the “Abuja Transmission Ring Scheme is financed by the French Development Agency ($170 million). The procurement process has reached the final stage; two contracts for the lines have been signed and the remaining lots for substation projects have been evaluated and submitted to AFD …”
The “Lagos/Ogun Transmission Project financed by Japanese International Corporation Agency JICA ($200 million). The project which was inherited from past management of TCN has been completely scoped, designed, with their EIA, RAP and ESMP completed. However, the compensation amount was very high, initially put at N8billion and later reduced to about N5billion. The Governor of Ogun State has been asked to assist with the compensation for the RoW for the Ogun/Lagos Transmission Project”. On this Mamman infograph had “$200” without the “million” as the amount, this might be a typographical error.
The “Nigeria Electricity Transmission Access Project (NETAP) financed by the World Bank ($486 Million). The project started with advanced procurement in 2017 and was approved by the board of the World Bank in February 2018. The procurement of the project has reached advanced stage but it is yet to become effective as it is still awaiting approval and Legal Opinion of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice”
The “Nigeria Transmission Expansion Project (NTEP) will be financed by the African Development Bank ($410 million).”
The “Northern Corridor Transmission Project to be financed by French Development Agency and EU ($245 million and €25 million). The appraisal of this project was completed on September 28, 2018 and is expected to be approved by the Board of AFD and EU in November 2018. ”
From the TCN documents, it can be deduced that even though plans were on ground, not all the fundings were available as $210 million was approved by the AfDB for NTEP in November, 2019.
This invariably means that the minister cannot wholly claim this as his achievement within the one year period under review.
Although $1.6billion (dollars) is the fund for the ongoing TREP project, it was not totally raised by the Mamman-led ministry between August 2019 and August 2020, which makes the minister’s claim misleading.
THE VERDICT:
The claim that the Ministry of Power under Engr. Sale Mamman raised $1.6 billion for the ongoing Transmission, Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) between August 2019 to August 2020 is MISLEADING.
Claim that Nigerian-born Kaycee Madu is Canada’s Minister of Justice is MISLEADING
A tweet by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) via its official Twitter handle: @nidcom_gov had on August 26 referred to the Nigerian-born Kaycee Madu as Canada’s Minister of Justice.
The tweet, which was posted at 8:51PM Nigerian time on Wednesday August 26, 2020, had garnered 666 Likes, 260 retweets and 70 comments as at 4:00PM the following day, Thursday.
The tweet reads: “Congratulations to a Nigerian born Kaycee Madu @KayceeMaduYEG who becomes Canada’s Minister Of Justice.”
Similarly, a Nigerian newspaper, the Vanguard, also reported albeit erroneously, Madu’s appointment as Canada’s Minister of Justice. The report headline reads ” Nigerian-born, Kaycee Madu, appointed Canada’s Minister of Justice.” The lead paragraph of the report also referred to him “Canada’s new Minister of Justice”.
THE CLAIM:
That Nigerian-born, Kaycee Madu, has been appointed as Canada’s Minister of Justice.
THE FINDINGS:
Checks by the FactCheckHub revealed that as at Thursday, August 27, 2020, David Lametti is still the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.
Parts of Lametti’s profile, as stated on the official website of the Department of Justice of the Canadian government, reads “…Minister Lametti served as a parliamentary secretary from 2015 until 2019, when he was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.”
Similarly, a check carried out by the FactCheckHub shows Lametti’s name and profile among the current cabinet member of Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister.
Further findings by the FactCheckHub indicated that Kaycee Madu was appointed Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, a province in Canada – contrary to the claim by the NIDCOM’s tweet and Vanguard’s report.
According to the official Canadian government’s website, Canada is currently made up of ten provinces and three territories.
Also, a congratulatory tweet from Doug Downey, a Parliamentarian for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, and Attorney General of Ontario (Canada), via his Twitter handle: @douglasdowney, referred to Madu as “Alberta’s new Minister of Justice and Solicitor General.
Madu’s profile has been updated on the website of the Alberta’s provincial government as its minister of Justice and Solicitor General.
The FactCheckHub also reports that several Nigerian media including The Guardian (Nigeria), The Cable and Premium Times reported Madu’s appointment as Alberta’s new Minister of Justice and Solicitor General.
THE VERDICT:
From all information available, NIDCOM’s tweet and Vanguard’s news reports are MISLEADING.
*This report was updated on 28/08/2020 with the second to last paragraph before the verdict.
Is Nigeria safer than five years ago as claimed by its Army Chief?
Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, had on Sunday, July 26, 2020 claimed that the country is safer than it was five years ago.
He disclosed this at a sit-out with Wounded Soldiers in Action (WIA) in Kaduna, The Nation newspaper reported.
The WIAs are military officers and men injured during various operations against insurgency who are receiving treatment at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.
Buratai’s claim has generated reactions from the public on various media and social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
THE CLAIM:
“I am proud you have made the impact that some of our colleagues and Nigerians are safe and I am equally happy that we are living in peace and Nigeria is safer now than we had five years ago,” Buratai said in the news report.
THE FINDINGS:
Data obtained by The FactCheckHub from the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) authored by John Campbell, a Conflict and Security expert and Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, shows that there has been an increase in insecurity in the nation, which has resulted into deaths of the citizenry, contrary to Buratai’s claim.
For instance, a total of 863 incidents which led to loss of 6,205 lives occurred between January 2020 and June 2020, compared to 490 incidents from January 2015 to June 2015 which recorded 8,047 deaths as a result of insecurity. The data shows an increase of 372 insecurity-related incidents within the same six-month period when compared with that of five years earlier, though there was reduction in the number of deaths recorded.
Also, the NST data shows that the Boko Haram insurgency tops the list of causes of insecurity-related deaths in Nigeria between January 2015 and June 2015, followed by Kidnapping, Banditry and Sectarian violence respectively, among others, within the same period.
Whereas, between January 2020 and June 2020, Kidnapping and Banditry top the insecurity list, followed by Sectarian violence and the Boko Haram insurgency.
The FackCheckHub reports that the NST is a project of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa programme, which documents violence in Nigeria that is motivated by political, economic, or social grievances. The data are based on weekly surveys of Nigerian and international media.
Though it noted on its website that “relying on press reports of violence presents methodological limitations as there is a dearth of accurate reporting across certain regions; death tolls are imprecise, and accounts of incidents vary, the NST makes every effort to collect information from multiple sources.”
In addition, using a 12-month range, the NST data shows that a total of 1,574 incidents which led to loss of 8,845 lives happened from July 2019 to June 2020. Whereas, a total of 15,106 people died from 931 incidents which occurred from July 2014 to June 2015.
Irrespective of the range use – 6 or 12 months – the number of insecurity incidents in 2020 is higher than five years ago.
Further findings by The FactCheckHub also corroborated Campbell’s report of heightened insecurity in Nigeria when compared to five years ago.
A report published on Friday, July 24, 2020 by the Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPs) – a consortium of three non-profit organisations (NGOs) – which include the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps and Save the Children revealed that violent attacks especially by bandits in Nigeria’s North-West region has led to death and displacement of citizens in their thousands.
“Attacks have included shooting and killing, cattle rustling, kidnapping, rape, torching of entire villages, and looting of valuables, and the numbers of fatalities and displaced people have continued to rise,” the report stated.
The six states of the North West, according to the report, are Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi.
In addition, the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, July 31, 2020 also expressed worries over rising insecurity, contrary to the Army Chief’s claim, saying “What is coming up in the northwest and north central is very, very disturbing indeed,” The Guardian (Nigeria) newspaper reported.
The data from NST covers cases of insecurity across the country and not all of these cases fall under the purview of the Army – Military, but incidents of insecurity – the state of being open to danger or threat – have increased across the country.
The country is witnessing a heightened spate of banditry, kidnapping among others.
THE VERDICT:
From the information presented above, Buratai’s claim that ‘Nigeria is safer now than we had five years ago’ is MOSTLY FALSE. This is because even though death fatalities reduced in the period under review, there is a rise in insecurity incidents.
*This report was updated on 27/08/2020 with the two paragraphs before the verdict.
Did Lai Mohammed say the Igbos are responsible for Nigeria’s underdevelopment?
A CLAIM has been shared repeatedly on social media and blogs that the Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has accused the Igbo people of being responsible for the country’s underdevelopment.
On August 18, an online platform, Ecocitygist published a variation of the report which states that the minister said the Igbos, but not the Fulanis were behind the nation’s predicament.
“I want to specifically channel my statement to Igbos in South East. I’m making this statement because it is so clear that they are the ones who will never want to hear anything good about Nigeria but rather will continue to glamor [clamour] for succession [secession]. I think it’s a sign of wickedness to become an enemy to your own country,” part of the report reads.
The minister reportedly made the assertions to journalists after a closed-door meeting with other cabinet members of the current President Muhammadu Buhari led administration.
Similar reports were also carried by 9newsng, Omokoshaban, Eagle Media TV Nigeria as well as Biafra Unite YouTube page which has over 33,000 subscribers.
The particular post on the YouTube channel has garnered 12, 653 views as at August 21.
THE CLAIM:
That Lai Mohammed said the Igbo people are the ones hindering Nigeria’s progress.
THE FINDINGS:
A close look at the report shows that it was syndicated across the different blogs most likely by the same person or group, this is because the same errors can be found across the reports on different platforms. Errors like the use of ‘Glamor’ instead of ‘Clamour’, ‘Succession’ instead of ‘Secession’ and so on.
Also the report was not published by any mainstream media organisation. While 9newsng reported the story in such a manner as if the minister granted an interview after the purported meeting with other ministers, Ecocitytvnews presented the report as a press statement.
The report also stated that “Lai Mohammed made these statement after his indoor meetings today in Abuja with other ministers concerning how to build up Nigerian economy” , the use of ‘HIS indoor meeting’ here connotes that the meeting was summoned or chaired by Mohammed.
This poses a red flag because while peculiar situations may warrant the minister to invite selected members of the cabinet for a meeting, the chances of Mohammed summoning other cabinet members over matters bothering on Nigeria’s economy is almost impossible. This is because President Buhari has a Special Adviser on Economic Matters and there is also a Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) which Mohammed is not the chairman.
In addition Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President chairs the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) set-up due to the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
More so, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) holds regular meetings involving all the cabinet members including Mohammed, where issues of national development and economic matters are discussed. as such a Minister of Information and Culture is unlikely to be chairing or summoning a meeting over economic matters.
Furthermore, the post on YouTube had no video or audio of Mohammed making the claim, It was mainly a collage of file footage put together over a narration.
The FactCheckHub reached out to Joel Attah, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture to verify the statement attributed to the minister,
“Nothing like that. Everything is fiction,” Attah replied in a phone conversation.
“There was no press statement issued and the minister did not meet with cabinet members. Nothing like that happened,” he reiterated.
A media assistant to the Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi also debunked the claim. He described it as fake news.
Adeyemi said “I can confirm to you that this story never emanated from us. It is the figment of the author’s imagination and a classic example of fake news.”
On August 24, The FactCheckHub contacted 9newsng.com via its twitter handle @9newsng to verify source of the claim but no response was gotten as at the time of this report.
The official behind Igbo Volume, one of the platforms that also published the report was contacted via a United Arab Emirate (UAE) mobile number +971 55 508 6536 that was on their Facebook page. The call was made 2:13 pm, Lagos, Nigeria time.
He simply asked the reporter to call back in two hours. He said he was at work as of the time he was contacted.
At about 4:14 pm, another call was put to his line but he told the FactCheckHub he was just rounding up from work. He asked the reporter to call back again in one hour, which was done.
At 5:51 pm he responded. He said he just sourced for news from the internet and publish on his Facebook page.
“When we see information online, we just publish it like that,” he responded in a phone interview.
Though, he claimed to have sourced the controversial report from Channels TV, no such story was found on the TV station website.
Meanwhile, he had attributed the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in the viral Facebook post, it was also not found on the NTA’s website.
He was then asked to send the link from the purported Channels TV report. He agreed but he did not send.
THE VERDICT:
Based on the information presented above, the claim is FALSE.
