INSHORT: Several social media posts have claimed that a yacht seen in the waters of St Tropez, France, belongs to the Nigerian government. The government has denied the claim.
"Nigeria Presidential Yatch cruising somewhere around Saint Tropez in France," starts a Facebook post dated 8 September 2024.
"The truth is that Nigeria is not the poverty capital of the world. Nigeria is rich. Nigerians are poor. They are poor because of the wickedness of their leaders," the post said, adding that in less than two years, the Nigerian government had bought a yacht, planes and built a multi-billion naira residence for the vice president.
Nigeria's vice president is Kashim Shettima.
The post includes a video of a large yacht sailing past what appears to be a dock. A flag that looks like the flag of Nigeria can be seen flying from the top of the yacht.
President Bola Tinubu was sworn in on 29 May 2023. His term has been buffeted by a major economic crisis. This has been compounded by an increase in the price of petrol in September 2024, leading to further tensions among Nigerians.
In November 2023, many Nigerians rejected the government's plan to buy a presidential yacht for US$6 million. But Tinubu still went ahead with the purchase, which included sport utility vehicles for Nigerian lawmakers.
The video of the yacht was posted with the same claim here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
But does the yacht in the video belong to the Nigerian government? We checked.
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Claim is false
On 7 September 2024 Otega Ogra, senior special assistant to Tinubu, debunked the claim on X (formerly Twitter).
"There have been false claims circulating that a private individual's yacht spotted in St. Tropez is a Nigerian government yacht. The 42m Bennetti yacht currently being shared online has been privately owned for around 5 years since it was constructed," Ogra also posted.
The flag on the yacht has the same colours as the Nigerian flag, but it also carries what appears to be a coat of arms in the middle.
"Flags used by the President or armed forces do not contain the coat of arms like the one on the yacht," Ogra said.
Since no photos of the presidential yacht are available, Africa Check examined images of the flags on the presidential aircraft and cars. The flags did not have the coat of arms.
Retired Nigerian Navy General Admiral Harry Aragundade confirmed that the coat of arms is not inscribed on the flags of presidential yachts, aircraft and cars.
Several other reputable news organisations also debunked the claim here, here and here.
The claim is false.
The same claim was also posted here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
