Everest Amaefule, Abuja

The World Bank on Wednesday raised the alarm over a fraudulent multipurpose co-operative allegedly being sold in some local communities in its name.

In a statement made available to our correspondent by the Senior Communications Officer, World Bank office in Abuja, Olufunke Olufon, the global lender said it was not behind the scheme.

Olufon said, “The World Bank’s attention has been drawn to a fraudulent multipurpose, co-operative scheme and ‘bottom-up’ grant being advertised in some local communities within Nigeria.

“Several correspondences targeting innocent citizens are being circulated falsely claiming that the World Bank is giving out money to individuals to do business and demanding processing fees of N1,000 from prospective awardees.

“Please note that the World Bank is not behind this multipurpose scheme and ‘bottom-up’ grant.       The World Bank does not request for personal financial information for applicants to its programmes.”

She added, “The World Bank therefore advises the general public to verify any information regarding World Bank-assisted programmes offered by the bank at the following website: http://projects.worldbank.org.

“The World Bank will not be held responsible for any refunds of fees solicited by fraudsters purporting to act on its behalf.”

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