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| - AMID the panic surrounding the planned nationwide protest by Nigerians next week, a video purportedly showing the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, promising to reduce the purchasing power of citizens, slow down the economy and widen the tax net has resurfaced online.
As a result of the economic hardship facing the country due to the recent policies by the current Tinubu-led government especially the removal of fuel subsidies, many Nigerians have expressed interest to protest their grievances starting from August 1, 2024.
READ: Did Tinubu say he suffers heart attack anytime Chelsea loses?
In the 30-second video, Tinubu can be heard saying:
“We reduce the purchasing power of the people, we can further slow down the economy. Let’s widen the tax net. Those who are not paying now, if it is inclusive of Oyebola Tinubu, let the net get bigger and we take in more taxes. And that’s what we must do in the country.”
An X user, @realqueenbee__ posted the video with a caption thus:
“You must listen to this again and again.
His campaign promises:
1. Further slow down the economy: Done from No 1 to No 4
2. Has your purchasing power been reduced?”
The video post has been circulating widely online and shared by multiple X users as seen here and here.
CLAIM
Tinubu promises to reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians and slow down the nation’s economy.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING as Tinubu was quoted out-of-context. The video was also edited to suit the goal of the disinformation campaigners – to mislead the public.
Checks revealed that the doctored video first made its way to social media in the build-up to Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
Findings showed that the speech was made at the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium held in Abuja on March 28, 2019.
Tinubu’s remark at the event is as follows:
“The global economy faces a stiff headwind. Factors, not our making. It casts doubt now and its projection is slow growth. Consumer spending is slipping. And this is where I will stop and appeal to Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President, and his team. Put a huge question mark on any increase on VAT, please. If we reduce the purchasing power of the people, we can further slow down the economy. Let’s widen the tax net. Those who are not paying now, if it is inclusive of Oyebola Tinubu, let the net get bigger and we take in more taxes, and that is what we must do in the country, instead of additional layer of taxes. For now, I’ll stop there.”
The above quotes was extracted from 11:33 – 12:57 (timestamp) of the ‘Live broadcast’ of the event by Channels TV.
Contrary to the viral video, Tinubu didn’t promise to reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians. What he called for was a stop to the proposal by former President Buhari’s economic team to increase VAT in the country.
Tinubu argued that increasing the VAT would result in a reduction of the purchasing power of Nigerians with the unintended consequences of further economic slowdown, according to the Channels TV report. Thisday also reported same here.
As an alternative, he proposed a broadening of the tax base which will get more people to pay their taxes and lead to increased tax revenue instead of placing additional tax burdens on Nigerians.
Many Nigerians, including a popular Nigerian columnist – Farooq A. Kperogi, had misrepresented Tinubu’s speech at the event and quoted him out-of-context, as seen here.
Recall that the video had previously been fact-checked by FIJ and another online blog, AfricanPlume as seen here and here.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Tinubu promised to reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians and slow down the economy is MISLEADING; Tinubu was quoted out-of-context in the doctored video.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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