By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria’s struggling economy lost N7.5 billion in the first three days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Twitter ban on June 4. That translates as N2.5 billion per day, and the loss comes to N30 billion in the 12 days since.
This is amount is the calculation cleaned from The Guardian (Nigeria).
Another calculation by NetBlocks, a global internet monitor, says Nigeria loses about $250,000 (£176,000) each hour the ban is in place and analysts warn the ban may further weaken the economy and increase youth unemployment levels.
Twitter is popular with many Nigerians. It has been used to raise funds for the sick, summon ambulances, help locate missing people, and has been a source of livelihood for the youth.
‘Social media is where I eat’
Reuters reports that an entrepreneur based in Lagos, Ogechi Egemonu, was selling more than N500,000 ($1,219) worth of watches, shoes and handbags on Twitter per week.
Now, with the site suspended by the government, Egemonu does not know how she will cope.
“Social media is where I eat,” she told Reuters. “I depend on social media for my livelihood.”
Scores of small and medium-sized businesses across Africa’s most populous nation – and largest economy – are reeling from the indefinite suspension of the social media site.
The suspension of Twitter on June 4 came two days after the platform removed a post from Buhari that threatened to punish regional separatists. Most telecommunications sites have since blocked access.
Up to 40 million Nigerians use Twitter – 20 per cent of them for business advertisement and 18 per cent to look for employment.
Experts warn its lack of ready availability – it is accessible using Virtual Private Networks that mask location – could ripple across the economy.
Collateral damage
“The ban has significant collateral damage,” said Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, who said that a “sizeable number of citizens” use Twitter to make a living.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) minority caucus in the National Assembly (NASS) has warned the suspension is costing Nigerians “billions of naira on a daily basis.”
Dumebi Iyeke, a research analyst with the Financial Derivatives Company, said it would hit young Nigerians – among whom there is a 45 per cent unemployment rate – the hardest.
“We are looking at a potential loss in their revenue,” Iyeke told Reuters, adding that it could further lower living standards amid high inflation.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed last week said all social media sites must register a local entity and get a licence to operate. He cited complaints over lost money as proof that the ban is effective, but said other sites are still available.
Other Nigerians, however, counter the argument of Mohammed who is gloating over the hardship of fellow citizens.
Critics of the ban include governors in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), and individual Nigerians.
PDP govs describe Buhari’s Twitter ban as ego trip
On Monday, the PDP Governors’ Forum asked Buhari to reverse his ban on Twitter so as to provide jobs, saying he took the decision to grease his ego at the expense of national interest.
A communique they issued after a meeting in Uyo dwelt on the economy, insecurity, as well as on social and political tensions.
PDP governors said social media regulation can only be done within existing laws and should not be used to punish or gag Nigerians from enjoying constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Nigerian youths do not have adequate access to employment and “a lot of Nigerians rely on Twitter for their livelihoods, businesses and self-employment,” they argued.
In their view, the ban will worsen Nigeria’s 33 per cent unemployment rate, the highest in the world, improve Nigeria’s ranking with the second highest poverty rate in the world, “all of which happened under APC’s unfortunate stewardship.”
The governors requested Buhari “to review the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria in the national interest.”
SERAP sues Buhari to ECOWAS Court over Twitter ban
Some 176 individuals joined SERAP to file a lawsuit against the government over the ban on Twitter.
The plaintiffs cited “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalisation of Nigerians and other people using Twitter, and the escalating repression of human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom in the country.”
SERAP solicitor Femi Falana (SAN) filed the suit at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja on June 8.
CDWR demands respect for human rights
CDWR issued a statement on June 9 which “[condemns] the government’s order to arrest and prosecute Nigerians who use Twitter after the ban. The action undermines free speech and democratic rights in Nigeria.
“The ban will also negatively affect small businesses and jobs that depend on Twitter to transact business and for jobs,” said the statement issued by CDWR National Chairperson Rufus Olusesan and National Publicity Secretary Chinedu Bosah.
“We observe the dangerous degeneration of the Buhari-led government into a full-blown Police State reminiscent of a dictatorial military regime. The Buhari-led government has repeatedly harassed and attacked activists, journalists, media houses etc.
“Most Nigerians are under economic, social and political siege! Activists have been arrested, detained and attacked for protesting unfair and anti-people policies.
“We witnessed how the Buhari regime and the military brutally attacked and suppressed the ENDSARS protest leaving deaths, sorrows and blood.”
CDWR said these attacks are Buhari’s “typical” responses to agitation against his anti-people policies and “obvious failure” to resolve problems including insecurity, the rising cost of living, ailing economy, factory closures amid rise in exchange rate, mass job losses, lack of basic infrastructure, and nationality question.
It warned that “Buhari’s … agenda is to hold the working people down in subjugation and slavery to allow a few privileged self-serving bourgeois elite to continue the loot and exploitation unchallenged.”
CDWR demanded “the reinstatement of Twitter and respect for freedom of speech and democratic rights” as well as “an end to all forms of attacks currently going on including the release of all detained activists and protesters and compensation to all victims of brutality of the police/military.”