COVID-19: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala apologises for sharing fake photos

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 

Former finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has apologised for sharing a fake picture commending the Rwandan President for his government’s style of palliatives’ distribution.

As COVID-19 outbreak continues to have harsh effect on citizens, countries across the world have offered food items to citizens to cushion the effect of the lockdown.


Recall that Ngozi on her Twitter account on Wednesday shared a picture showing Rwandan government style of distributing food items.

However, Bashir Ahmad, media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari took to his Twitter page commenting that the picture was not related to Rwanda.




Ahmad wrote: “While it is true that the Rwandan government is giving out palliatives, the picture does not originate from the east African country but from Gambia.”

After few hours, Iweala admitted posting the ‘fake’ picture.

She, however, noted that the focus of her message is for countries to adopt the safe way of handling food description.

Thanks to those who have drawn my attention to the food distribution picture I tweeted earlier today. A friend sent it to me that it’s from Rwanda. Whether Gambia or Rwanda, the point I want us to focus on is that it is a safe way of handling food distribution.

— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) April 8, 2020

Her tweet read: “Thanks to those who have drawn my attention to the food distribution picture I tweeted earlier today. A friend sent it to me that it’s from Rwanda.

“Whether Gambia or Rwanda, the point I want us to focus on is that it is a safe way of handling food distribution.”