Fact Check: Tinubu plans to abolish naira, introduce dollar as Nigeria's currency?

A video going viral on TikTok purportedly shows President Bola Tinubu saying he is planning to "abolish" Nigeria's currency, naira, for the dollar.

Verdict: This claim is false. Legit's findings show that the video was digitally manipulated.

A video recently posted on TikTok shows Arise News anchor Ojy Okpe introducing President Bola Tinubu, who says: “We are planning to abolish the usage of naira and start using the dollar as our local currency.”

The video went viral on the video-based social media platform with almost 10,000 shares and over 2,000 comments at the time of filing this report.

A huge number of those who saw the video believed it was authentic. A TikTok user, @erichbest, said: "This man is gradually planning to sell this country." However, there are others who stated that the video was manipulated.

Is the the video authentic?

Legit checked the Arise News's recognised digital platforms, website, YouTube and Twitter and found no video of the president making the statement.

Legit also found no statement made by the president regarding the alleged plan to ditch Naira for dollar.

Further scrutinising the video, one could notice that Okpe and President Tinubu's lip movements do not sync with what was heard from them.

This strongly suggests that the video has been altered.

Arise News distances self from video

Meanwhile, Arise News has responded in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying that the video is fake.

"ARISE News totally dissociates itself from a DEEP FAKE VIDEO making the rounds on social media mimicking the What's Trending segment's anchor Ojy Okpe," the news media said in the statement sighted by Legit.

"The digitally-altered video which claims that President Bola Tinubu plans to abolish the naira in favour of the dollar is the handiwork of Fake News peddlers," it added.

DISCLAIMER!

ARISE News totally dissociates itself from a DEEP FAKE VIDEO making the rounds on social media mimicking the What's Trending segment's anchor Ojy Okpe.

The digitally-altered video which claims that President Bola Tinubu plans to abolish the naira in favour of the… pic.twitter.com/V2UguSJBkr

— ARISE NEWS (@ARISEtv) August 30, 2023