FACT CHECK: Did an Igbo man win a $500m contract to build monorail in Iraq?

CLAIM: A post on a Nigerian micro-blogging platform, Nairaland, claims that a Nigerian of Igbo dissent, Jude Igwemezie, has recently been awarded a contract worth $500 million by the Iraqi government, for the construction of a monorail network in Iraq.

VERDICT: False!

FULL TEXT

According to the post which was made on Thursday, Mr Igwemezie is the head of TransGlobim International, the company that reportedly won the contract bid.

“The contract is to construct what is described as ‘a viable rail transportation network’ for the city of Najaf. The network will connect three Islamic holy and historic mosques in Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahle,” the post reads further.

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The post added that Mr Igwemezie had been involved in negotiation with Nigerian officials “in the last 18 months” to construct several rail lines in the country, but he was frustrated. However, it took him “only two months to get the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) executed with Iraqi officials”.

VERIFICATION

A google search of the claim shows that it is a recycled one. The same post was found to have been published in 2018, 2019, and 2020 by different blogs and social media handles. Even then, it could not be verified, as there is no mention of such a project on the website of Globim International.

All the recycled posts about the claim have the same or very similar wordings. All claimed that an MOU was signed; and that Mr Igwemezie was frustrated by Nigerian officials.

Also, the claim is mostly published by blogs and social media handles with ethnic agenda.

Below are screenshots of the same post in past years.

CONCLUSION

The claim that an Igbo man was recently awarded a contract worth $500 million by the Iraqi government, for the construction of a monorail network in Iraq, is false. The claim, still unverified has been recycled since 2018.

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