Twitter ban: Nigeria ‘loses: Nigeria has lost N24.72 billion in 10 days as a result of the Federal government’s Twitter ban.
Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the microblogging app’s operations indefinitely on June 5 after the site removed a tweet posted on the President’s handle.
Last week, the Federal Government announced that the microblogging site has reached out for discussions and that the Federal Government will now issue operating licenses to such sites if they want to operate in Nigeria.
According to NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, an international Internet monitor, the ban costs Nigeria N102.9m ($250,600) per hour.
The digital rights advocacy platform calculates the economic impact of an internet outage, mobile data blackout, or app restriction using World Bank, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Eurostat indicators, among others. According to its analysis, Nigeria lost an estimated N2.1 billion naira when Twitter was shut down for 24 hours.
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According to Statista, Nigeria have approximately 33 million active social media users, with approximately 26% on Twitter.
While commenting on the ban, Ayoola Olukanni, Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, said it has a greater negative impact on micro, small, and medium businesses that rely on social media to conduct business.
“In this digital age, communication is an important part of sales and marketing. As a result, the Twitter ban is likely to have a negative impact and disrupt businesses, particularly Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises that rely on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to conduct business.
“As a result, it will almost certainly have a negative impact on the economy’s IT sector, which is already dealing with a number of challenges.
“While there are alternative social media platforms, the abrupt nature of the suspension would result in the loss of existing contacts as well as the cost of migration.
“Of course, we must not and cannot dismiss the national security dimension of the misuse of social media and microblogging platforms to incite violence outside of their intended use to conduct business,” Olukanni said.
