Unrelated image used to portray Jos school building collapse

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Sunday Awosoro

Claim: A Facebook user posted an image to show the recent collapse of a school building in Jos.

Verdict: Misleading! Findings revealed that the shared image was obtained from a 2013 incident in Kaduna.

Full Text

Over the years, many buildings have collapsed in Nigeria, but none seem to be as heart-wrenching as the recent one which claimed the lives of both teachers and pupils in Jos, Plateau State.

While sympathising with the bereaved in her post, Prosperous Oluchi, a Facebook user, used an image to depict the incident scene. She wrote: “Kia! A big school in Jos collapsed yesterday, and many kids lost their lives. Teachers lost their lives. Parents lost their children. Mother lost 4 kids hearing the news, she joined them, and here God kept me and you and our children… why not call God a sweet name? I call him my great protector.”

Ms Oluchi is among several individuals who shared videos and images from the incident. Her image stood out as different from what others were posting, but no commentators questioned its authenticity.

DUBAWA has noticed that when tragedies like this happen, users post misleading or, at times, false narratives on social media. This is why we sought to fact-check.

Verification

We reverse-searched the image and found it had been online since 2013. Channels Television originally published it as linking to a building collapse in Kaduna on July 31, 2013.

However, multiple outlets have since used this image to depict similar occurrences, as seen here, here, here, and here.

Conclusion

The image posted by Ms Oluchi is unrelated to the collapse of the school building in Jos. The post is misleading.