Twitter ban costs $250,600 per hour to the Nigerian economy
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria has lost $1.22 billion to the Twitter ban imposed by Muhammadu Buhari on June 4, the loss being calculated at $250,600 per hour by NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool.
Nigerians who were doing business on Twitter have lost 203 days or 4,872 hours from June 4 to December 23 which translates to $1.22 billion loss to the economy.
The cost will pile up for as long as Buhari tarries with the ban he imposed on the microblogging platform on June 2 because it removed his incendiary tweet against the Igbo.
A financial planner, Kalu Aja, told The PUNCH that “the Twitter ban raises a narrative about doing business in Nigeria, and it’s not a good narrative.
“Specifically, Twitter and social media allow Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and sole proprietors with zero marketing budgets to use a smartphone to build and communicate a brand promise.”
Despite the ban, Nigerians are still making their voices heard on Twitter through Virtual Private Network (VPN) which hides the Internet Service Provider (ISP). But it is not as straightforward as using Twitter through a local ISP.
The youth especially have migrated to Instagram to advertise or buy products and to express their views.
However, an unhindered Twitter remains the easiest and fastest platform – and the most preferred by the tech savvy – to communicate instantly to a global audience.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Nigerians’ use of VPN for Twitter rises 200%
#TwitterBan: We are monitoring repression in Nigeria closely, says Commonwealth
Nigerians blame Buhari for Twitter’s choice of Ghana as Africa HQ
__________________________________________________________________
Plans to lift ban
Twitter had earlier announced its decision to set up its Africa regional headquarters in Ghana rather than Nigeria where it has more subscribers.
Among its reasons for choosing Ghana are “free speech, online freedom, and open internet.”
Buhari announced in his Independence Day broadcast on October 1 that the ban would soon be lifted because Twitter had met nearly all the conditions for reinstating the service.
Labour and Employment Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, a member of the committee set up to dialogue with Twitter, explained on Channels Television on November 28 that Twitter has agreed to all the conditions.
Said he: “It was Twitter, just to put it in context, that reached out to the federal government to say they want to know what they can do to straighten up the relationship with the federal government. And so we’ve gone far.
“I may not at this forum, let out a lot, but we give them a lot of conditions (and) they have agreed to all those conditions. What is left now are the timelines to fulfill those conditions.
“Once those timelines come and they fulfill those conditions, Twitter will be back to business in Nigeria. They know exactly what we want. And these are things that are extremely altruistic.”
Keyamo added that Twitter has agreed to pay taxes to the Nigerian government and to set up a physical office in Nigeria for users to lodge complaints.
“The reason why the President took that step is to recalibrate our relationship with Twitter and not to drive them away from our country.
“That recalibration, we have started it and the president graciously added me to the committee ….
“So, they’ve agreed to taxation, they’ve agreed to open an office in Nigeria so that there can be some, you know, face to face complaints so that we don’t have to be going through algorithms to complain about activities of certain persons who use Twitter to subvert the government of the day.
“There are certain lines that people should not cross when sending out messages, or tweeting things that are capable of tearing us apart.
“For instance, things are not capable of setting this country on fire, you know, but to use those platforms to promote and propagate some of these ideas.”
Keyamo said the technical committee on Twitter is working on a code of conduct to control the mode of engagement on Twitter and on other social media platforms, per reporting by PREMIUM TIMES.
