Communication

Fact Check: Recycled Video Used to Depict Scrapping of Govt. Agencies

By Web News 430

By Olufisoye Adenitan

Claim: A WhatsApp user posted a video multiple times claiming that the government has scrapped the key government agency in Nigeria.

Verdict: MISLEADING. Findings reveal that the six-minute, 19-second video showed Hadiza Usman, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, speaking on the merger and relocation of some government agencies, not the scrapping of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, (ICPC) Nigeria Centre For Disease  Control, (NCDC) Nigeria Communication  Commission, (NCC), and  Nigeria Television Authority, (NTA).

Full Text 

In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan established the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies, with Steve Oronsaye as the Chairman.

The Oronsaye report, submitted in 2012, highlighted the existence of 541 federal government parastatals, commissions, and agencies, both statutory and non-statutory.

The 800-page report recommended the reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in different ministries.

Recently, a WhatsApp user posted  a video on Apr. 16, 2024, with the inscription, “President Tinubu scraps Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, [FRCN], Economic and Financial Crimes Commision [EFCC], Independent Corrupt Practices Comission [ICPC], Nigeria centre for disease control [NCDC], Nigeria communication communication [NCC], Nigeria Television Authority[NTA] Several others.” 

In the video, Hadiza Usman, Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, spoke on the merger and relocation of some government agencies. Throughout the six-minute, 19-second video, she never mentioned the scrapping of the said agencies as alleged in the forwarded message.

Screenshot of viral  WhatsApp message.

The Virality of the post on WhatsApp groups prompted DUBAWA to verify it.

Verification

We conducted a Google Reverse Image Search on the video and discovered that the video was old. It was posted by TikTok users @glowrealmeracool, and @daddyelly0 on Feb. 27, 2024. It was tagged “President Tinubu scraps, EFCC, ICPC, NCDC, NCC, NTA Several others.”  

We found the original video on Channels Television on YouTube and discovered that the special adviser, ‘Hadiza Usman, only spoke about merging agencies, not scrapping them. 

In her words, “One of the key areas that the honourable minister has mentioned is the fact that our administration is taking bold steps towards implementing the Oronsaye Report, which speaks to the mergers, subsuming, and relocation of parastatals agencies, commission of the federal government.” This is in line with the need to discuss good governance and ensure we have streamlined efficiency across the governance value chain.

On Feb. 26, 2024. Bola Tinubu ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.⁣ As a result, the government announced the merging, subsuming, scrapping, and relocation of several agencies. Coming from a private sector background, Oronsaye transitioned into the civil service at a senior level and ascended to the  Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. In the 800-page report, the only agencies to be scrapped are the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, with its functions transferred to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), with its functions transferred to the Department of Basic and Secondary Education in
the Federal Ministry of Education.

According to a report by the Cable, other agencies mentioned in the circulated WhatsApp post were merged and not scrapped.

Conclusion

Our findings show that none of the agencies in the video was scrapped but merged as recommended by the Oronsaye Report. The video circulating on WhatsApp is misleading.

The researcher produced this fact-check for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship, in partnership with Olufisoye Adenitan, FRCN positive fm Akure Ondo state Nigeria, to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Lifestyle

Fact Check: Did Abdulwahab, an ex-Boko Haram insurgent, say he killed many Christians?

By Web News 1045
Claim: An online news medium “ecocitynews” on August 2, 2020 published a story wherein a Boko Haram insurgent, Abdulwahab Usman, was reported to have confessed to killing many Christians.

Verification: The headline of the story alluding that Usman, an ex-Boko Haram member killed many Christians is misleading.

An online news medium Ecocity News on August 2, 2020 published a story wherein a Boko Haram member, Abdulwahab Usman, was reported to have confessed to killing many Christians while another platform also published the story with the same headline.

A screenshot of “Ecocity News” web page showing the headline

In July, about 602 repentant Boko Haram members graduated from the Federal Government’s de-radicalization program otherwise dubbed “Operation Safe Corridor”.

The Punch newspaper wrote a feature on one of the rehabilitated Boko Haram members, Abdulwahab Usman, who admitted that he had killed many people.

He however did not specify the victims’ ethnicity or religion.

Reproducing the news, an online medium “ecocitynews” on August, 2, published a version of the story with the headline “I have killed many Christians to the extent, I can’t remember the lives I have wasted – Freed Boko Haram member said.”

The ecocitynews attributed the source of the story to Punch newspaper. 

Being a religiously diverse country, unguided utterances and misinformation such as this has in the past resulted in religious violence and claimed lives, hence the need for a verification.

Verification

Going through the report from Punch, it was noted that Usman indeed submitted that he had killed many people, however, he did not specify the religion of his victims.

“I was forced into the group for about five years. I can’t remember the number of people I killed as a Boko Haram member because they are many,” Usman was quoted as saying by Punch.

A closer look at the Ecocity News’ version shows that the headline of the story, which claimed that Usman had killed many Christians, did not align logically with the body of the story.

So while the headline suggests killing of Christians, Usman, never mentioned any of his victim’s religion all through the story.

From all indications, Ecocity News culled the story from Punch, gave it its own, but misleading, headline.

Conclusion

While Abdulwahab Usman, a deradicalised Boko Haram insurgent, admitted to killing many people, did not say he killed Christians. The headline of the story by Ecocity News is misleading.

Adedayo Adelowo