By JVINN @Aunty_JVIN
An image of a supposed rice pyramid recently went viral on social media in response to the unveiling of the “World’s Largest Rice Pyramid” by the federal government and President Mohammadu Buhari.
Nigerian News Leader's Fact-Check discovered that this particular image was first posted at 12:41 PM on January 15, 2018, as contained in a tweet by Káyọ̀dé Ògúndámisí @ogundamisi on Twitter.
With the wood work taking 80-90% of the size of the pyramid. Is this not a deception or exaggerated achievement? Hope this is not you 'padded' your asset declaration with hope of 'expansion' ?
— Olushola Olufolabi (@olushola_shola) January 15, 2018
And following this with a reverse image search revealed a host of visually similar images to the supposed viral image.
And looking at another viral reaction from Twitter user @Tutsy22 clearly shows the viral image was badly cropped from the original collage of images.
Reports in December 2017 stated that the Ogun state government had mass-produced a local brand of ofada rice dubbed "Mission to Rebuild Ogun State (MITROS). Online reports surfaced a few days later alleging that the then governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, displayed a fictitious rice pyramid to deceive the public.
The photo showed the wooden frame in a pyramid shape used to support the bags of rice which trended on social media at the time.
Social media users have reshared the photo as the one released by the government on Tuesday.
Verdict: FALSE.
