Hassan Abdulsalam and Joy Archibong

SUMMARY

An online platform reported that the minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said that she announced that the government lost 700billion naira COVID-19 Relief Funds in the fire outbreak that gutted the Accountant General’s office in Abuja.

CONCLUSION

The report is false and it lacks substance. It was debunked by the Ministry of Finance. The Minister of Finance has not briefed the media since the office of Accountant General Of Nigeria was gutted by fire on Wednesday, 8th April 2020.

FULL TEXT

In the viral story that was published here, Nigerian Finance Minister Mrs. Zainab Ahmed announced to the nation that the government lost N700 billion naira COVID-19 Relief Funds.

The information was said to have been announced during a press interview on Thursday, 9th April 2020, where she announced that the files and documents of the COVID-19 Relief fund donated by individuals and companies to support the nation fight coronavirus were all burnt down.

The viral story claimed that the Finance Minister said- “We’re sorry about the incident occurred on Wednesday been 8th of April 2020, the government lost N700 billion naira COVID-19 Relief Funds Due to the Fire outbreak, its caused a lot of damages in the office and we’re yet to investigate on what was the cause of the fire outbreak, I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the Nigerians most especially to the SouthEast and Southwest, government together we will help fight this virus”

The story claimed that she also said that the fund was to Disbursed to the SouthEast and Southwest government to aid tackle the spread of Coronavirus in the states and also for the benefit of the country.

The news story ended with her urging the Abuja Commissioner of Police to trace and identify the cause of the fire outbreak in the office.

VERIFICATION

Since it was not revealed on any Nigeria’s National dailies media platforms that the Minister addresses the press on Thursday. It was gathered that the same message is being circulated on different social media platforms.

In response to the claim, the ministry of Finance debunked the news on their official Twitter handle @FinMinNigeria. It revealed that the news was false that she didn’t grant any press conference to the media.

According to tweet, “the general public should take note. @zshamsuna did not grant a press conference or any interviews. No funds were lost in the fire at the Accountant Generals Office which was contained to two rooms. Donations are under N30b to date. This is pure mischief & should be disregarded”