CLAIM:

There were reports that ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists attacked and abducted military and security personnel at Army Research Institute in Buratai and Police Training College in Gwoza, Borno State in January 2022.

Some media reports, especially on social media claimed that in both incidents security personnel were either abducted or killed.

Sources claimed the terrorist attacked the Gwoza Mobile Police Training School with gun trucks and shot sporadically into the air before allegedly kidnapping the instructors.

Similarly, there were videos in circulation where ISWAP terrorists were seen firing in different directions while ransacking the Army Institute. They also pulled down flags, shot heavy artillery and burnt military and official vehicles.

VERDICT:

While the invasions and attacks on the Army Research Institute as well as the Police Training College were authoritatively confirmed by PRNigeria, there is no sufficient evidence to prove that military and security personnel were abducted and no evidence on the alleged looting of armouries at the two centres.

The terrorists attacked the Tukur Yusufu Buratai Institute for War and Peace (TBI), a research Institute of the Nigerian Army University, located in Buratai Village in Biu on Monday, December 10, 2022. Another group of terrorists invaded the Mobile Police Training School in Limankara, Gwoza LGA on Thursday, December 13, 2022.

VERIFICATION:

Police College Attack Repelled

The Borno State Commissioner of Police, Abdul Umar, confirmed repelling of the attack on the Police Mobile Training College, Gwoza by the terrorists.

He however disputed reports that some mobile police officers were abducted, and armoury looted by the insurgents. He said: “The police did not record a single casualty nor loss of firearms and no casualty on the part of the Police was recorded.” https://prnigeria.com/2022/01/14/police-personnel-gwoza/

Multiple calls were put through to various credible sources to cross-reference the police chief's statement confirmed that there were no abductions or looting of the armoury.

In the same vein, PRNigeria used media monitoring and listening tool tools to scrap for any related footage that may buttress the claim but there was none.

Buratai Institute Attack Confirmed

Similarly, PRNigeria gathered from a senior military commander in the troubled zone who confirmed that while there was an insurgents’ invasion at the institute, no police or military personnel was abducted or killed. He added that at the time of the attack, most of the staff were yet to resume from the new year holiday.

“The attack occurred at the army research institute in Buratai and not at a military base as being speculated. Most staff including civilians were yet to return fully from the New Year break when the enemies invaded the place.

“The institute has no armoury that terrorists could attempt to loot. While no single army personnel was abducted or killed, regrettably two civilians died during the incident,” the commander said.

CONCLUSION:

While there was were attacks on both the Police Training College, Gwoza and Buratai Institute in Biu Borno State, there was no evidence to prove abductions or looting of armouries. There is also no evidence of casualties on the side of the military and police personnel on both incidents

By PRNigeria

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Fact-Check: Is Nigeria Police the Worst Police Force in Africa, World Ranking?

Claim:

A viral video shared widely on social media, mostly on WhatsApp claims that the Nigeria Police Force is ranked the Worst Police Force in Africa and in the World.

Verdict:

The Official Website of the International Police Science Association, IPSA, which carries out the World Internal Security and Police Index, WISPI, as a sub-project of its thematic focus, has no recent ranking for the worst police force. The most recent ranking was released in 2019 and Nigeria was neither the worst in Africa nor in the world.

Full Text:

A viral video on WhatsApp claimed that the Nigeria Police Force is ranked the Worst Police Force in the World by the Global Police Index.

The clip allegedly featured the top ten African Countries with the worst police force in the world.

In the clip, Madagascar was the 10th being ranked 111 of 127 of the Global Index, Zambia as 9th with a 112/127 ranking, Ethiopia as 8th with a 115/127 ranking, Sierra Leone as 7th with a 117/127 ranking, Cameroon as 6th with a 120/127 ranking, Mozambique as 5th with a 122/127 ranking, Uganda as 4th with a 124/127 ranking, Kenya as 3rd with a 125/127, DR Kongo as 2nd with a 126/127 and Nigeria as the 1st with a 127/127 ranking.

Verification:

A simple online search of the keyword “global police index 2020” generates at huge results with the top result being from the IPSA-WISP 2016. The ranking was released during the tenure of Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Kpotun Idris (2016-2019). There had been two IGPs in Nigeria since then, namely: IGP Mohammed Adamu (2019-2021) and the current IGP Usman Alkali Baba (2021-).

A thorough inspection of the IPSA-WISP official website, its 2016 ranking listed

The five worst-performing countries included Pakistan which was ranked 123, Uganda 124, Kenya 125, Congo 126 and Nigeria 127 being the last position. http://www.ipsa-police.org/Images/uploaded/Pdf%20file/WISPI%20Report.pdf

The WISP ranking examines the four domains of internal security: capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes.

Reacting to the 2016 report, the then Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood explained that the IPSA survey at the time did not take into account the reforms the NPF had been undergoing. https://www.channelstv.com/2017/11/11/we-are-the-best-in-africa-nigeria-police-reject-world-security-ranking/

“Nigeria Police Force is ranked high in UN Peace Keeping Operations, the best in Africa and one of the best in the world. The Force rejects the report as unempirical and absolute falsehood, should be disregarded and discountenanced,” Moshood said in the statement.

2019 RANKING

However, the Global Police Index (GPI) 2019, obtained by PRNigeria, it measures the perceived levels of police departments in 211 countries and territories where over 40 countries were ranked poor for performing below average. The country in the worst category included Azerbaijan, Somalia, Venezuela, Djibouti, Uganda, Liberia, Vietnam, Niger, Iraq, Turkmenistan Republic, Burundi, Egypt,

Syria, Chad, Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, North Korea, Libya, Congo republic among others. https://www.saferspaces.org.za/uploads/files/Global_Police_Index_2019_Digital3.pdf

Meanwhile, the report ranked Nigeria among average performing police forces under a satisfactory category which included Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Cuba, Kenya, Morocco Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates among others.

In terms of corruption, Hello Travel, a holiday travel advisory website ranked Kenya, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Russia, Pakistan, Haiti and Mexico as the ten most corrupt police forces in the world. https://www.hellotravel.com/stories/10-most-corrupted-police-force-in-world

Conclusion:

The trending video that claimed and ranked Nigeria Police Force as the worst in the world was a mere reflection of the World Internal Security and Police Index, WISPI 2016.

The 2019 Global Police Index listed Nigeria among the average performing police forces in the World.

By PRNigeria

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FACT-CHECK: Did UN Report Claim that there were More Women than Men in the World in 2019

CLAIM

There have been several reports since 2019 claiming that there are more women than men in the world population. Most of the reports quoted Daily Independent, a newspaper in Nigeria as the source of the information which also attributed it to the United Nations (UN).

VERDICT

An investigation by PRNigeria reveals that the World Population Prospects 2019 which was published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provides a comprehensive overview of global demographic patterns and prospects which did not project the claim that there were more women than men in the world. The claim is therefore FALSE.

FULL TEXT

The Daily Independent on April 29, 2019, published a report on its website titled: "BREAKING: UN publishes 1st quarter Demography Report 2019." https://independent.ng/breaking-un-publishes-1st-quarter-demography-report-2019/

The newspaper reported that: "There are 7.8Billion people on planet earth. The report shows: Women = 5.6Billion, Men = 2.2Billion

"So, they advised women to be careful in showing attitudes to any man because out of the 2.2 Billion men: One billion are married already; 130 million are in prison; 70 million are mentally ill.

"That means that we have just about 1 billion men available for marriage and out of the 1billion: 50% are jobless, 3% are gay 5% are Catholic Priests, 10% are your relatives, 35% are above 66years,

"So, ladies both the married and singles, you have to rethink before treating any man like trash. For details visit the UN demography report."

INVESTIGATION

A diligent search by PRNigeria on websites relating to agencies of the United Nations (UN) could not find any publication on the claim.

UN POSITION

The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights, published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provides a comprehensive overview of global demographic patterns and prospects.

The document also obtained by PRNigeria shows that the world’s population continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace than at any time since 1950, owing to reduced levels of fertility. From an estimated 7.7 billion people worldwide in 2019, the medium-variant projection indicates that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf

Meanwhile, relying on the UN World Population Prospects, Statistics Times in its "World Sex Ration for 2019" shows that there were 3,889bn males against 3,824bn females which translates to 101.689 males per 100 females.

For 2021, it shows that there were 3.97 billion males, representing 50.42% and 3.905 billion females, representing 49.58% of the world population. The world therefore had 65.51 million more males than females. https://statisticstimes.com/demographics/world-sex-ratio.php#:~:text=The%20population%20of%20females%20in,49.58%25%20of%20the%20world%20population

CREDIBLE SOURCES

A further search by PRNigeria on credible sources of information on the world population, especially on the demography indicates that the gender or sex ratio between the number of males and females in a society is not stable but instead shaped by biological, social, technological, cultural, and economic forces.

According to demographers (https://ourworldindata.org/gender-ratio), the sex ratio at birth is not equal: in every country births are male-biased. There are biological reasons why there are slightly more boys born every year than girls. The ‘natural’ sex ratio at birth is around 105 boys per 100 girls (ranging from around 103 to 107 boys).

In some countries, the sex ratio at birth is much more skewed than would occur naturally where there is clear evidence of gender selection through prenatal sex determination and selective abortion.

In countries where there is a clear son preference, the sex ratio at birth becomes increasingly skewed with birth order (the third or fourth born children are more likely to be boys than the first or second child).

OLD AGE DEMOGRAPHY

Whereas the overall numbers of males and females globally are about equal, The report of UN Population in 2019 states that women outnumber men at older ages owing to their longer average life expectancy. In 2019, women comprise 55 per cent of those aged 65 years or over and 61 per cent of those aged 80 years or over globally. https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf

That was also confirmed by UNFPA in its statistics on life expectancy at birth, years where it shows that in 2021 males reach 71 years on average while the female 75years https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population-dashboard

CONCLUSION

Based on documents obtained by PRNigeria and statistical analysis, the claim is not true in the context in which it was narrated. (PRNigeria)

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