Sultan Quadri

SUMMARY

A viral story making rounds on various blogs and social media suggests that the federal government admitted that 50 goats ate 50 billion naira relief funds.

CONCLUSION

This claim is totally false. There was no mention of the government agency, date or location it was announced and at no time has the federal government admitted to this claim

FULL TEXT

A viral story making rounds on blogs and social media suggests that the Nigeria Federal Government admitted that 50 goats came into their office in Abuja to eat 50 billion Naira donated as relief funds for Nigerians.

The story was published by blogs here and here. On one of the blogs, the story has amassed 17,811 views as at the time of this report. One of the stories was published on April 23, 2020, and another one on April 28, 2020. The most recent one was published on May 4, 2020, here.

It claimed that a “chairman” said,


“We are sorry to announce to you that we don’t know how 50 goats came into the office to eat up 50 billion nairas without the awareness of our soldiers.”

It also pacified Nigerians, it reads, “Nigerians should exercise patience because we don’t know how to give everyone relief fund”.

VERIFICATION

The viral story made no mention of the exact federal government agency that made the report, date and location it was announced.

The name of the chairman who reportedly appealed to Nigerian was also not mentioned

At no point in time as the federal government confessed to having lost 50 billion to 50 goats.

The only report where a government official claimed an animal was responsible for the disappearance of funds was in 2018 when a sales clerk, Mrs. Philomina Chieshe in Makurdi, Benue office of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) claimed that proceeds from the sale of admission scratch cards in the state, totaling N36million have been swallowed from the cash vault by a mystery snake that comes in the night.

The federal didn’t promise to give relief funds to every Nigerian. The Federal government social investment program, which entails food distribution, cash transfers, and loan repayment waivers will reach 3.6 million households.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, says the relief items being given by the federal governments as palliative over the coronavirus-induced lockdown would reach only 25 percent of Nigerians.

The headline and the story were solely written for clickbait and contain no element of truth.

People’s check implores Nigerians not to be too quick to believe and send broadcast messages they receive from any social platform or blog until they are sure of its accuracy.

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