The Explainer Fake News detectives on patrol of cyberspace have tracked a fake news content circulating on Whatsapp groups, claiming President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N40billion as cash to be transferred to every Nigerian with a bank account. With a photograph of the President signing a document, the fake content claims that what is being signed is the authorization for the CBN to transfer N25, 000 each to every Nigerian with a bank account. The fake news claim read: “Breaking News! Nigeria’s President Buhari sign N40billion to CBN authority to share for every citizen of Nigeria that has a bank account. N25,000 each to every individual of Nigeria today 30/03/2020.”
Apart from the below par grammar in the fake news content, the many spurious claims it makes give it away. Fact checks by The Explainer fake news detectives indicate the peddlers of this false content are trying to cash in on the ongoing debate about COVID 19 palliatives to misinform the public. Neither the Presidential broadcast of March 29 nor briefings by top government functionaries have mentioned transfer of cash to “all Nigerians with bank accounts.” Although the Buhari administration announced plans to transfer funds to the poorest households across the country due to lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of COVID 19, that process is being handled by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, and the target beneficiaries are the poorest households, not “all Nigerians with bank accounts,” as claimed in the fake news content.
Beware;fake news can cause civic disharmony; don’t spread it.
