{"id":19087,"date":"2024-06-19T11:07:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T10:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=19087"},"modified":"2024-06-19T11:07:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T10:07:55","slug":"false-minister-of-budget-bagudu-did-not-say-nigeria-spent-n814-billion-on-new-anthem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/false-minister-of-budget-bagudu-did-not-say-nigeria-spent-n814-billion-on-new-anthem\/","title":{"rendered":"False! Minister of Budget, Bagudu, did not say Nigeria spent N814 billion on new anthem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: RWGblog<\/a> shared a post<\/a> with claims that the federal government of Nigeria has spent N814 billion on the reverted national anthem.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: The claim is false. DUBAWA contacted the minister\u2019s Special Adviser on Media, Bolaji Adeniyi, who said the minister never made such a statement. Also, a Google search did not bring any results of the minister making such a statement on credible news websites.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On May 29, 2024, in an event marking President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary, the federal government of Nigeria changed the national anthem from \u201cArise O Compatriots\u201d to the old \u201cNigeria We Hail Thee.\u201d While a few applauded the president, many criticised<\/a> his action, describing the sudden change as unnecessary to solving the economic hardship faced by Nigerians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An X user, @nnaemekaekele<\/a>, wondered<\/a> why the government decided to change the anthem to one used during the colonial era. He suggested composing a new one since the president feels it is the country’s main problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili said<\/a> she won’t sing the anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst this, Resolution Wall, a blog known as RWGblog<\/a>, shared a flyer on Instagram claiming that the federal government has spent N814 billion on changing the national anthem. According to the blog, Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, allegedly made the statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A screenshot of the viral post. Photo Source: Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Affirming the sentiments of many who did not appreciate the change, this post has spurred conflicting debates among users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, Bob David<\/a>, who seemed to believe the claim, discouraged others who might have doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUna go dey here the talk say nah Joke… While dem dun Remove and share the money from Federation account,\u201d he wrote under the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Displeased by the viral information, another user, Adedoyin Oyedun<\/a>, questioned a Nigerian politician\u2019s ability to siphon funds without prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adedoyin said, \u201cBola Tinubu’s mandate will crash this country called Nigeria. How can all these Yahoo politicians be stealing our money, Korokoro eye?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This claim has since appeared on Facebook and Twitter, generating more debates as seen here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>. Due to the sensitive nature of the claim and the personality involved, DUBAWA conducted this fact check to set the records straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We searched through recent posts on Mr Bagudu\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>, but none showed where he made this viral statement. We also visited the Ministry of Budget’s social media handles but found nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA then contacted Bolaji Adebiyi, Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, who said the minister never made a statement concerning the reverted national anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe addressed that matter some time ago. The minister did not make any statement on the new national anthem at all. He is unaware that any budget was set aside for the new national anthem. The information is false,\u201d Mr Adebiyi told DUBAWA on a telephone call and via WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, a news story published on The Cable<\/a> quoted the Director-general of the National Orientation Agency<\/a> (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, stating that the agency did not receive any funds for the national anthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NOA is a custodian for national symbols, which include the constitution, the currency, the national anthem, the national pledge, the flag, the coat of arms, and the seal of the president,\u201d he said. He added that the federal government did not spend anything on the anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, a keyword search on Google’s search engine for \u201cFederal government spends N814 billion on old National Anthem\u201d<\/a> did not bring out any result from credible news media of the minister making such a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Findings show that the purported statement did not come from Mr Bagudu, and the claim that Nigeria has spent N814 billion on the reversed anthem is false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: RWGblog shared a post with claims that the federal government of Nigeria has spent N814 billion on the reverted national anthem. Verdict: The claim is false. DUBAWA contacted the minister\u2019s Special Adviser on Media, Bolaji Adeniyi, who said the minister never made such a statement. Also, a Google search did not bring any results of the minister making such a statement on credible news websites.\u00a0 Full Text On May 29, 2024, in an event marking President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary, the federal government of Nigeria changed the national anthem from \u201cArise O Compatriots\u201d to the old \u201cNigeria We Hail Thee.\u201d While a few applauded the president, many criticised his action, describing the sudden change as unnecessary to solving the economic hardship faced by Nigerians. An X user, @nnaemekaekele, wondered why the government decided to change the anthem to one used during the colonial era. He suggested composing a new one since the president feels it is the country’s main problem. Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili said she won’t sing the anthem. Amidst this, Resolution Wall, a blog known as RWGblog, shared a flyer on Instagram claiming that the federal government has spent N814 billion on changing the national anthem. According to the blog, Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, allegedly made the statement.  Affirming the sentiments of many who did not appreciate the change, this post has spurred conflicting debates among users. For instance, Bob David, who seemed to believe the claim, discouraged others who might have doubts. \u201cUna go dey here the talk say nah Joke… While dem dun Remove and share the money from Federation account,\u201d he wrote under the post. Displeased by the viral information, another user, Adedoyin Oyedun, questioned a Nigerian politician\u2019s ability to siphon funds without prosecution. Adedoyin said, \u201cBola Tinubu’s mandate will crash this country called Nigeria. How can all these Yahoo politicians be stealing our money, Korokoro eye?\u201d  This claim has since appeared on Facebook and Twitter, generating more debates as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Due to the sensitive nature of the claim and the personality involved, DUBAWA conducted this fact check to set the records straight. Verification We searched through recent posts on Mr Bagudu\u2019s Facebook page, but none showed where he made this viral statement. We also visited the Ministry of Budget’s social media handles but found nothing. DUBAWA then contacted Bolaji Adebiyi, Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, who said the minister never made a statement concerning the reverted national anthem. \u201cWe addressed that matter some time ago. The minister did not make any statement on the new national anthem at all. He is unaware that any budget was set aside for the new national anthem. The information is false,\u201d Mr Adebiyi told DUBAWA on a telephone call and via WhatsApp. Similarly, a news story published on The Cable quoted the Director-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, stating that the agency did not receive any funds for the national anthem.  \u201cThe NOA is a custodian for national symbols, which include the constitution, the currency, the national anthem, the national pledge, the flag, the coat of arms, and the seal of the president,\u201d he said. He added that the federal government did not spend anything on the anthem. Further, a keyword search on Google’s search engine for \u201cFederal government spends N814 billion on old National Anthem\u201d did not bring out any result from credible news media of the minister making such a statement. Conclusion Findings show that the purported statement did not come from Mr Bagudu, and the claim that Nigeria has spent N814 billion on the reversed anthem is false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,437],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3009,4129],"class_list":["post-19087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-facebook-checks"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-4XR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3009,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"sunday-awosoro","display_name":"Sunday Awosoro","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":4129,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"faruk-shuaibu","display_name":"Faruk Shuaibu","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Bagudu.png?fit=1140%2C570&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19089,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087\/revisions\/19089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19087"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=19087"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=19087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}