Nigeria Loses N24.72bn In 10 Days over Twitter Ban.
Truetells Nigeria reports that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has lost N24.72bn ($60.14m) following the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.
According to NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, the federal government loses N102.9m ($250,600) every hour to the ban.
Recall that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had cited ‘the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence as the reason for the suspension.
A report released by Statista disclosed that Nigeria about 33 million active social media users, with about 26 per cent on Twitter.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, Ayoola Olukanni, when asked whats the effect of the ban on Nigeria said, “Communication is a significant part of sales and marketing in this digital age. Consequently, the Twitter ban will likely impact negatively and disrupt businesses especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises who rely on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram including Twitter to conduct business.”
“It will therefore most likely negatively impact the IT sector of the economy which is already facing several other challenges.”
“While it may be considered that there are alternative social media platforms, the abrupt nature of the suspension would mean a loss of existing contacts and a cost of migration.”
“We must of course also not and cannot, discountenance the national security dimension of the misuse of social media and micro-blogging platforms to inspire violence outside its use to conduct business.”
Twitter had reached out to the government that it was ready to meet for an open discussion to address mutual concerns and see the service restored. The company revealed this in a tweet.
The company had said, “Today marks one week since Twitter was blocked in Nigeria. We have informed the Nigerian government that we are ready to meet for an open discussion to address mutual concerns and see the service restored.
“We remain advocates for the free and Open Internet everywhere.”
