A fact-check report by Reuters has said that the circulating social media reports on a fire outbreak at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s headquarters in Abuja was an AI-generated image.
The report comes following the denial of the fire by the apex bank.
The CBN had said claims that fire engulfed its head office in Abuja are “totally false” after posts shared fabricated images of a burning high-rise building and said a blaze destroyed trillions in local currency.
Facebook posts on December 20 said the CBN headquarters was “reportedly on fire” and that properties and cash assets worth ₦12 trillion ($8.26 billion) may have been destroyed.
The posts included two images of a high-rise building resembling CBN’s head office with flames and smoke rising from its roof. Uncropped versions of those images in an earlier version of the post on December 20 carry a watermark in the bottom-right corner from Grok, X’s AI assistant that can generate images.
However, there are no credible reports of a fire at the CBN’s Abuja headquarters on December 20, according to the Reuters report.
The bank said on its Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts on December 21 that “the information going round social media that the CBN Head Office building has been engulfed by fire is totally false and should be considered Fake Content.”
The apex bank urged the public to rely solely on verified and official communication channels for accurate information and warned against sharing unverified content that could cause unnecessary alarm.
The CBN did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Separately, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria’s tax authority, posted a statement on X, on Dec. 20, hours before the Facebook posts appeared, stating that a fire had occurred that morning at one of its Abuja offices.
The notice said the fire originated on the fourth floor of the building at No. 15, Sokode Crescent, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, approximately 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) from the CBN’s head office.
Responders contained the fire, and no one was injured or killed, according to the statement.
A special adviser on media to the FIRS executive chairman also did not respond to a request for comment.
The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency, the FCT Fire Service, the Federal Fire Service, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the Nigeria Police Force did not respond to requests for comment.
VERDICT
False. There is no evidence of a fire at the Central Bank of Nigeria head office building in Abuja on December 20, and the CBN said the reports are fake.
