The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has denied social media reports disclosing how much the agency has spent sending out messages to Nigerians to enlighten Nigerians about Coronavirus disease.
A screenshot has been trending on various social media platforms claiming the sum of N1billion has been spent on disseminating information through the Short Message Service (SMS).
The screenshot didn’t indicate the source of its contents but an investigation by TODAY POLITICS indicated that an online news medium, Reporters Press, originally published the report.
The news medium said it got the information through the Twitter handle of the NCDC but checks by this medium indicated that the published information is false.
Denying it spent the said amount, the agency said the messages sent out is at the instance of the three major network providers in the country who decided to do so to support the fight against the pandemic disease.
“The headline claiming that NCDC has spent N1 billion on SMS to Nigerians is FALSE,” the NCDC said in a tweet Thursday morning.
“While communication through SMS is a key part of our #COVID19 response strategy, this has been largely provided as in-kind support by @AirtelNigeria @MTNNG @GloWorld,” it added.
