THE Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has debunked a viral message stating that she is bringing investors into Nigeria.
She disclosed this via her personal X handle on Friday, May 17, 2024, saying that the message was fake and was intended to disinform people.
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“It’s been brought to my attention that another fake message has been manufactured and is being forwarded in my name. I want to make it clear that this fake message is not from me. I am pleased that those who know me instantly recognized this as fake,” part of the post read.
She attached a screenshot of the viral message which was crossed with a black line.
The texts on the screenshot read:
I am bringing investors to Nigeria using the president’s commendable policies as a bait. Is that too difficult to understand? President Tinubu’s reforms might be harsh now but they would birth a new and prosperous nation, i have lost counts of presidents, respected institutions and investors that have congratulated me on Nigeria eventually having a focused leader since the reforms were rolled out. At least six multi national manufacturing giants are coming with me by December later this year to see how their firms can have factories here. It’s all part of my contributions to the progress of Nigeria. I am not a politician. I only desire the best for my dear country. It informed my visit to President Tinubu. The world has accepted him as our president, like it or not. May God heal us.
She emphasized that she doesn’t utilize WhatsApp broadcast for messaging and urged individuals to disregard any subsequent messages, highlighting the incident as a prime example of social media exploitation.
ALSO READ: How to fact-check viral post shared via WhatsApp
“Please be aware that I do not use WhatsApp broadcasts; thus anything forwarded to you purporting to be a message from me is Fake. This is a bad example of the use of social media. I want to warn those in the business of manufacturing FAKE messages, that they will not succeed,” she said.
It’s been brought to my attention that another FAKE message has been manufactured and is being forwarded on WhatsApp in my name. I want to make clear that this fake message is not from me. I am pleased that those who know me instantly recognized this as fake. Thanks to friends… pic.twitter.com/wTzh9fuqJO
— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) May 17, 2024
You can learn how to identify such viral messages as explained in one of our previous reports here and also learn how to debunk them as highlighted in our tutorial here.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
