By Naum Nzioki
A link circulating on WhatsApp claims that the National Youth Empowerment Fund Application form 2022 is out and would allegedly issue every citizen 150,000-550,000, restricted to students and business owners.
Background
Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme is a Nigerian-based initiative launched in October 12, 2020 by President Muhammadu Buhari, designed to run in partnership with state governments, multilateral developments organization, and private sector and aims at promoting skills acquisition, employment and entrepreneurship.
This is not the first time viral posts were witnessed on social media urging youth to apply for free funding from the government. These links were circulating in November 2021 and also in January 2022, and fact-checked by Piga Firimbi here and here. In November the government was forced to clarify the fake post through the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology and State Department of Youth which flagged the posts to be scams.
The posts mostly provide individuals with links to get the application form, providing personal details such as phone numbers and email addresses. The Ministry of ICT urged citizens to take precautions and avoid giving their details to foreigners.
Verification
The Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme is based and operates only in Nigeria and is not linked to Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon and Namibia, or any other country.
These linked posts bearing the coat of arms of the federal republic of Nigeria, the coat of arms of the republic of Kenya and borrowed flags from Uganda, Ghana, Gambia and South Africa together with the official Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme from Nigeria logo are fake, and don’t come from the initiative in Nigeria.
The link :https://today.empower-online.xyz given in the Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme is not based in Kenya rather it is registered in the United States with its IP location in Bayern according to who is.com and thus this whole information in this scheme is not from Kenya.
Verdict
The WhatsApp post claiming that the National Youth Empowerment Fund application form 2022 is out is FAKE.
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