FG not funding ASUU with NYSC allowance as claimed in this headline

Claim: A breaking news headline claims that the Federal Government has agreed to fund ASUU with NYSC allowance.

The claim that the Federal Government has agreed to fund ASUU with NYSC allowance is FALSE. The headline is FAKE and was created using an online tool sweary.com

Full Text

Students in public universities across Nigeria are stuck at home for the umpteenth time, following the recent nationwide strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Now almost a seasonal event, the university teachers have resorted to strike actions to press home their demands for adequate funding for universities, better remuneration among other welfare packages. 

The lingering crisis is largely due to the Federal Government’s failure to honour its agreements with ASUU, which includes the payment of a N1.3 trillion naira revitalisation fund. Recently, the Nigerian Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, announced that the Federal Government has no funds to meet ASUU’s demands, citing fallen oil prices.

Screenshot of a breaking news headline now in circulation claims that the Federal Government has agreed to pay ASUU with the allowances of graduates enrolled in the one-year mandatory programme of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The news headline, which contains the photo of a previous meeting between the leadership of ASUU and the Ngige-led FG team, has been making the rounds on social media platforms, including Twitter and WhatsApp.

Some users who have sighted the claim believe that the Federal Government has agreed to pay ASUU with funds meant for the payment of allowances to NYSC corps members.

One user shared the photo on WhatsApp, with the caption: “That is why they are delaying our allawee,” referring to the monthly allowances/stipends paid to corps members. Claims like this one, as DUBAWA has observed, emerged on the heels of the delayed payment of monthly allowances of corps members.

DUBAWA recalls there were similar claims in 2021, following the unusual delay in the payment of allowances. It was rumoured that the NYSC had utilised the February allowances of corps members for the settlement of bandits.

Verification

DUBAWA found that no media outlet published or reported on the matter. Further findings show that the breaking news banner was created with an online tool – www.sweary.com

The tool has a template that allows users to generate all kinds of news headlines and captions of their choice. 

The website invites users to: “Discover and try out our full range of almost useful tools and stupid generators and have some laughs.”

Using tools like this, users are generating spurious headlines that are misleading unsuspecting members of the public. In February, a similar online tool was used to fabricate a headline which claimed that President Buhari had threatened to intervene in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which Dubawa found to be FALSE.

Conclusion

The Federal Government has not decided or agreed to pay striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) with the allowances meant for members of the National Youth Service Corps. The breaking news headline in circulation is fake and was fabricated with an online tool.