The Daria Media Presidential town hall meeting is hosting Peter Obi, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, on Monday.
The series tagged “The Candidates”, is designed to allow Nigerians to engage their candidates on issues related to nation-building.
The town hall series, which started on Thursday, November 17, is planned to host six presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Presidential candidates that have appeared on the show so far include: Adewole Adebayo and Yusuf Buhari of the Social Democratic Party; Omoyele Sowore and Haruna Magashi of the African Action Congress (AAC) and Rabiu Kwankwaso and Bishop Isaac Idahosa of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The series is anchored by Nigerian journalist Kadaria Ahmed and supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), as well as YouTube.
DUBAWA, as part of the Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition (NCF), is involved in live fact-checking of claims made by the candidates.
Claims made by the candidates and fact-check reports are presented below:
Claim 1
Claim: The presidential candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi, claimed that over 130 million people live in poverty in Nigeria.
Finding
According to a recent document on multidimensional poverty released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 63% of Nigerians live in poverty, making up about 133 million people.
Verdict: Correct
Source: NBS
Date: 21/11/2022
Claim 2
Claim: Peter Obi claimed that the 2021 budget was 21 trillion, with an 11 trillion deficit. He added that approximately 6 trillion was earmarked for subsidy.
Finding
The 2021 budget was N13.6 trillion, not N21 trillion. The 2021 Budget deficit was N5.6 trillion. This means the amount spent on subsidy is not up to N6 trillion. Obi’s claim would have been correct if he had referred to the 2023 budget.
Verdict: Incorrect
Source: Budget Office of the Federation
Date: 21/11/2021
Claim 3
Claim: The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi claimed that Israel’s export last year (2021) is $59.8 billion.
Finding
According to Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry, the country accrued $143 billion in exports. The World Bank also estimates that Israel made $143.05 billion on exports of goods and services.
Verdict: Incorrect
Source: Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry, and The World Bank
Date: 21/11/2022
Claim 4
Claim: The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, claimed the Oil sector contributes to less than 10 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.
Finding
According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Q2 2022, the Oil sector contributed 6.33% to the total real GDP in Q2 2022, down from the figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.42% and 6.63% respectively.
Verdict: Correct
Source: NBS
Date: 21/11/2022
Claim 5
Claim: The presidential candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi, claimed River Nile is over 1,000 Km longer than River Niger, and River Benue put together.
Finding
According to Fortune Africa and Reuters, River Nile is the longest river in Africa and the world with a length of 6,650 km (4,132mi); Niger River is the third longest river in Africa, extending about 4,200 km (2,611 mi); Benue River is about 673 miles (1,083 km) in length. So adding the length of River Niger and Benue and subtracting from that of The Nile would result in 1,367Km.
Verdict: Correct
Source: Fortune Africa, Reuters and Britannica
Date: 21/11/2022
