IN SHORT: The Nigerian president is not giving out N20,000 cash grants to students. Don’t fall for these misleading Facebook posts.
A Facebook post claims that Nigerian president Bola Tinubu is giving out a N20,000 (about US$25) cash grant to students.
The post reads: “TINUBU 20,000 Naira Nigerian Student Cash Funds. Please Note Only Nigerian students.”
It features a link to a website where interested students can supposedly apply.
We found similar posts here and here.
But is the president giving away cash grants to students? We checked.
Post links to malicious website
Following his inauguration in May 2023, Tinubu signed a number of bills into law, including one that allows students from poor backgrounds to access interest-free loans.
According to Nigeria newspaper the Premium Times, those looking to further their studies can submit their loan applications through their banks. The application must include a cover letter signed by the head of the educational institution and a copy of the student’s admission letter.
We clicked on the link attached to the Facebook post and were required to enter our name, email address, phone number and explain what the money would be used for. Once we were done, we were congratulated and told we qualified for the cash grant.
We were then instructed to share the website with five groups or 11 friends on WhatsApp.
This is a classic example of engagement bait. These are social media posts that ask people to interact by liking, commenting or sharing. This increases the post’s reach. But when it’s used to scam people, users never receive the promised funds.
This could also be a way for scammers to obtain the user’s personal information, which may be used to commit fraud.
Read our guide on how to spot scams on Facebook here.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
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