Associated Incidents
IN SHORT: According to Facebook users in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled a new N5,000 note that bears the face of president Bola Tinubu. But this is not true and the image was generated using an artificial intelligence tool.
Some social media users claim that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the first sample of a N5,000 note (about US$3) featuring an image of president Bola Tinubu.
Part of one post, dated 26 January 2025, reads: "The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled the first sample of the N5000 note, which will soon be distributed to banks. The note features a portrait of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. According to the CBN Governor, this decision honors Tinubu for his commendable contributions during his presidency."
In 2012, the CBN announced plans to introduce N5,000 notes. But in 2022, the bank backtracked on these plans. Over the years, there have been calls for the introduction of N5,000 notes.
The same claim can be found here, here and here.
But has the CBN released a sample of the new N5,000 notes? We checked.
Ignore AI-generated image
In 2022, the bank initiated plans to redesign naira notes. This led to a temporary shortage as the new notes were not distributed effectively, and the media widely reported on it.
There are no credible reports that the CBN intends to create new N5,000 notes in 2025. If this were true, it would've made headlines.
Users who posted the image in question tried to crop out the "Grok" watermark. The watermark indicates that the image has been generated by Grok, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that is part of the social media platform X.
Artificial intelligence uses complex computer algorithms to perform tasks otherwise done by humans, like answering questions and writing code.
Over time, social media users have used AI tools to misinform others. Africa Check has debunked such claims here, here and here.