FACT CHECK: Is Borno thesame size as UK and Sweden as said by Osinbajo? – Nexus News
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed that Borno state is about the size of the United Kingdom(UK) and Sweden combined or the UK and Denmark.
Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s spokesperson, via a press release revealed that the vice-president discussed with a group of Harvard Business School students who visited him at the Presidential Villa on Sunday, August 28.
While discussing with the students who were on an African excursion, Osinbajo stated that for the international community to better understand the enormity and complexity of Nigeria’s economic and security crisis, it is better to consider the size of the country.
“First, there is a need to appreciate the size of the country, which is crucial to understanding what the issues are.
“For instance, Borno is about the size of the whole of the UK plus Sweden or Denmark,” the law professor said.
“So, when it is reported that there is violence in Nigeria, it is probably an incident in one remote area of the country, and many people in Abuja and Lagos may hear about it on social media, such is the size of this country.
“When they talk about the economy, we are often compared with smaller African countries, but there are 10 states in Nigeria that have bigger GDPs than those countries, it is a huge target market.”
Is Borno state greater in land mass than the combination of the UK and Sweden together or the UK and Denmark?
The news report was published on different news platforms.
Verification
Nexus News checked the size of Borno, the northeastern state established in February 1976 and further subdivided in 1991, when Yobe state was separated from it.
Borno, ironically known as the Home of Peace, to its west is Yobe state. It also shares borders with the Republic of Niger to the north, Lake Chad (and the Republic of Chad) to the northeast, and Cameroon to the east.
The official website of the Borno state government revealed that the landmass area of the state is approximately 61,435sqkm, making it the second biggest state in Nigeria after Niger state.
According to data published in 2020 by the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Population Commission reveals that the 2019 population estimate places the population of Borno at 5.7m people
The United Kingdom comprises the entire Island of Great Britain, which includes England, Wales, and Scotland as well as the northern portion of the Island of Ireland.
The 2021 World Bank data unveils that the landmass of the United Kingdom is approximately 241,930 km².
Read Also: DSS refutes using aggressive tactics against Nigerians
The UK’s Office of National Statistics, the largest independent producer of official statistics, places the nation’s population at 67m people.
Sweden is situated at the Scandinavian peninsula in northern Europe. Its capital has remained in Stockholm since 1523. Sweden comprises the greater part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, which it shares with Norway.
Despite the country having a 1,000-year-long continuous history as a leading state, its territorial expanse often changed until 1809. The 2021 World Bank data unveils that the present land mass of Sweden is 407,310 km² and has a population of 10.4m people.
Denmark comprises the peninsula of Jutland, which extends northward from the center of continental western Europe. Jutland amounts to more than two-thirds of the country’s total land area.
As of 2021, the World Bank data disclose that the land mass of Denmark is 40,000 km² and its population is 5.8m people.
Borno, a vast expanse of land, is indeed bigger than Denmark, and has about the same population as the Scandinavian country, but it is far in size and population from Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Checks by Nexus News unveiled that the landmass and the population size of the United Kingdom alone are by wide margins larger than Borno state, not to talk of adding either Sweden or Denmark.
In conclusion
The statement by Vice-President Osinbajo that Borno is about the size of the UK and Sweden combined or the UK and Denmark is not true and highly exaggerated.
