Afeez Rabiu and Maranatha Olanrewaju


SUMMARY


Conspiracy theories around the 5G network being responsible for the spread of Coronavirus and the deaths of its patients went viral on social media recently. It has also featured on broadcast messages and even public figures like Pastor Chris Oyakilomeh of the Christ Embassy Church and Senator Dino Melaye were credited for propagating some of these claims.


CONCLUSION


The claims about the 5G network being responsible for the Coronavirus are illogical and baseless as there is no proof of the relationship between both phenomena. There have also been no reports by the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on if masts are being built for the installation of the 5G masts here in Nigeria.

FULL TEXT

There has been murmuring and disbelief by many Nigerians about the presence of the novel Coronavirus in the country. In the past weeks, another claim has surfaced rendering a reason for the government’s alleged conspiracy.

This viral picture claims that Coronavirus is fake and it is simply a cover-up to allow the deployment of 5G network towers. It alleged that these 5G network towers are responsible for the death of Coronavirus patients through radiation that is being emitted from phone signals. It also claims that an R.F.I.D ( Radio Frequency Identification) chip in a “vaccine” to be used as immunization will be used to steal citizens’ privacy, bank, and personal info.


VERIFICATION


5G is a fifth-generation mobile network that is an upgrade of 4G LTE mobile network that relies on signals carried by radio waves, it was launched in 2018, and is expected to bring a greater benefit to the telecommunication industry globally as It uses higher frequency waves than earlier mobile networks, allowing more devices to have access to the internet at the same time and at faster speeds.


According to Olayinka Shehu of ICIR, The World Health Organisation (WHO) in a study published in 2014 titled “electromagnetic fields and public health: mobile”, to look at the effect radiation has on the human body, said no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.


It said, “Mobile phones are low-powered radiofrequency transmitters, operating at frequencies between 450 and 2700 MHz with peak powers in the range of 0.1 to 2 watts.
The handset only transmits power when it is turned on. The power (and hence the radiofrequency exposure to a user) falls off rapidly with increasing distance from the handset.

A person using a mobile phone 30–40 cm away from their body – for example when text messaging, accessing the Internet, or using a “hands-free” device – will, therefore, have much lower exposure to radiofrequency fields than someone holding the handset against their head.”


And it is evident that Nigerians mostly do not have 5G enabled gadgets yet to access the network even if it is available and cannot in any way be automatically connected to the network as claimed in the allegations.

According to the World Health Organization, currently, there is no vaccine yet for COVID-19 although a lot of countries and working to create one. These vaccines are still being tested on animals while Boston-based biotech firm Moderna – will soon start to test it on humans.

Since there is no vaccine an R.F.I.D ( Radio Frequency Identification) can not be used for the alleged actions.