Fresh bank documents have revealed that Adamu Garba, a social critic and businessman, received funding from the Nigerian Government to build his app, Crowwe, in an apparent plot to rival Facebook and Twitter.
According to Peoples Gazette, Garba received hundreds of millions of Naira via the Central Bank of Nigeria to execute the project.
The CBN on May 21, 2019, transferred N136.8 million to Mr Garba’s company, IPI Solutions, documents reveal, marking one of several transfers that sources said the Buhari regime advanced to Mr Garba in the course of building the Crowwe app.
The Buhari administration is known for its desperate efforts to clamp down on social media with the latest being the suspension of Twitter’s activities in the country. Garba was widely condemned after he praised the suspension, claiming that Twitter was ‘anti-Nigerian’ and actively supporting efforts to destabilise the country. He riled against the social media platform, a move that seriously backfired.
“It was while the government was trying to find ways to control the media space that Adamu Garba’s company was picked as one of the promising businesses that could proffer solutions,” an administration official said.
“The seriousness of controlling social media cannot be overplayed.”
However, Garba’s app, Crowwe failed to appeal to the Nigerian populace. Many complained of the numerous glitches the app had and it was recently kicked out of the Google play store after garnering thousands of negative reviews.
When confronted with the findings, Garba admitted that he received funds from the Nigerian government adding that “we do projects and receive payments from the central bank”.
