IN SHORT: President Bola Tinubu may have plans to empower young people in Nigeria, but claims that he’s giving away thousands of naira are false.
Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu is giving away N69,200 (about US$89, at July 2023 exchange rates) to citizens through an empowerment scheme. This is according to a message circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook in the country.
Tinubu was sworn in on 29 May 2023, taking over from Muhammadu Buhari.
The message asks would-be recipients to call “Mr Hamza” on the phone number provided.
It can also be found on Facebook here.
But is Tinubu giving money away in this unorthodox way?
‘Tinubu empowerment fund’ doesn’t exist
Although Tinubu has talked about his plans to empower young people and entrepreneurs, Africa Check could find no evidence that he has set up such an “empowerment fund”.
Instead, we found several other social media posts using this pattern and impersonating several politicians, including Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Tinubu. The three politicians ran against each other in the 2023 presidential election.
Several posts on Facebook by Nigerians mocking the scammers' attempts say they received a similar message.
One Facebook user warned Nigerians not to fall for such a scam. Another user called the sender “semi-illiterate”.
We also found no mention of such giveaways on the president’s official communication channels or on his social media accounts.
To help protect yourself from online scams, read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.
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