News in Brief:
– A fraudulent grant application claiming to be from Nigeria’s Ministry of Agriculture is circulating online.
– The ministry has issued a warning, urging the public to ignore the scam and avoid sharing personal information.
The attention of Nigeria’s federal government has been drawn to a fraudulent grant application falsely attributed to the Ministry of Agriculture. The false information is currently circulating on social media platforms.
Consequently, in response, the ministry, via its official X handle, has issued a stern warning to the public to be vigilant against this malicious notice. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has categorically denounced the publication as a scam.
According to the minister, the ministry empowers farmers ‘through the supply of inputs at subsidised rates and some at no cost.’ Therefore, he remarked that the notice is ‘malicious and intended to cause harm to the public. Kindly disregard.’
Details of the scam
Meantime, the fraudulent notice promises a grant of ₦50,000 to all farmers and prospective farmers to bolster food security in the nation.
Effectively, the scam targets unsuspecting individuals by requesting personal information such as name, phone number, and account details, under the guise of a 2024/2025 agricultural scheme.
The Ministry has unequivocally distanced itself from the fraudulent notice, emphasising that its farmer empowerment programs involve the provision of subsidised or free agricultural inputs.
Furthermore, the Ministry has urged the public to disregard the false information and to be wary of individuals attempting to defraud them under the pretext of agricultural empowerment.
