By Austin Edoho
The Twitter ban placed on the giant microblogging platform by the Nigerian government has cost Nigeria N309.26bn so far.
Today makes it 124 days that Twitter was banned in Nigeria, and the economic effect is really devastating.
It can be recalled that the Nigerian government, on June 4 had ordered the social platform to be suspended until further notice.
This singular act by the Government did not go down well with many Nigerians whose businesses depend on the platform to connect with the target customers and grow.
Perhaps, in a bid to calm frayed nerves and explain the rationale behind the suspension of the platform, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) explained to Nigerians why the platform was taken down.
In his words, “Social media is a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information.
“However, recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination.
“Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.
“To address these negative trends, the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021 to allow the government put measures in place to address these challenges.”
It is left to be seen when the ban will be lifted. But according to the presidential spokesperson, negotiations were underway, as terms were given to the management of Twitter, and as soon as they comply, the platform will be restored.
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