By Daniel Kanu
After the outrage that greeted the banning of Twitter operations in the country, the Federal Government, on Thursday, finally lifted the suspension.
The ban which lasted for 222 days, according to experts, inflicted huge economic losses amounting to over N546.5 billion.
The reality is that with the ban, so many small businesses crumbled in the country, after having to cope with a struggling economy and the impact of COVID-19.
The lifting of the suspension was announced on Wednesday via a statement by the Chairman, Technical Committee, Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
Abdullahi said that the Federal Government directed him to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the lifting of the ban effective from 12:00 midnight, Thursday.
He said that the approval was given following a memo written to the president by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.
In the memo, he said, that the minister updated and requested Buhari’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.
Recall that the Federal Government had announced the suspension of Twitter operations on June 4, 2021, after the social media giant deleted a post by President Buhari for “violation of the company’s abusive behaviour policy.”
By June 5, 2021, the suspension was effected by telecommunications companies as Nigerians woke up to a Twitter shutdown across all platforms.
Revealing the huge cost suffered, according to the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, Nigeria lost N104.02 million ($250,600) every hour to the ban, bringing the daily losses to N2.46 billion.
By the end of Wednesday, it was 5,328 hours in the 222 days since the social networking site was blocked, and so, about N546.5 billion was already lost in the economy.
It is believed in some quarters that the latest unbanning strategy must have been a smart move on the part of Federal Government as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court was expected to deliver a judgment on the case filed by the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) next week.
No doubt, a lot of businesses collapsed, but it was also discovered that while the ban lasted, some Nigerians, including government officials, were still tweeting. They circumvented the process by installing Virtual Private Network (VPN).
VPN is a technology that encrypts the Internet traffic on unsecured networks to protect one’s online identity hiding one’s details.
Expectedly, stakeholders have continued to express mixed feelings on the development. While some commended the move as a welcome development, others queried the president’s action, saying that it was rash, insensitive and autocratic of a supposedly democratic government.
They queried the rationale behind the ban in the first instance, asking what the Federal Government actually gained from the ban.
They contended that the government gained nothing while Twitter lost nothing giving the fact that its revenue from the country can pass as a minuscule.
There were those who said that they never left Twitter, as they had alternative bypass to get hooked.
Available reports, according to Ayoola Oke, Telecoms lawyer, have shown that at least, 98 per cent of Twitter revenue comes from Europe, America and Asia, the remaining two per cent is from Africa and others. So, the market is so small.
He argued further that “Even Donald Trump, former USA president tried it and failed. Twitter is just a website for Twitter just like Nigeria having its own website; can another country ban our platform? To me, the ban was just a wild goose chase.”
Nigerian Coordinator, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), Olusola Teniola, said that the lifting of the ban is timely.
“It appears that Federal Government is now comfortable with Twitter meeting its conditions and we trust that going forward continued dialogue is the norm in ensuring the engagement of the youth to building a digital economy on a platform that is highly visible, impactful and global in the digital social media space,” Teniola noted.
For Ike Nnamani, president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the unbanning of Twitter is a welcome development.
He told Sunday Sun that the resolution of the impasse would usher in opportunity for better relationship.
Although he said that he was not defending the government position, but that there was national security challenge at the time the FG took the sad decision.
“I am happy it has been resolved, it is a welcome development. As a person, I do not support the ban, even our association did not like the suspension, but when the issue borders on national security, of course, you can’t joke with such area,” he noted.
Also reacting to the news in her tweet, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili asked: “Did @Twitter meet @NigeriaGov’s conditions? For instance, do they have a Nigerian office now?”
Irritated by the development @DrFunmilayo tweeted: “Government gained nothing. Achieved nothing. Ruined businesses. Nigeria has lost about one billion dollars because a president felt his ego crushed by Twitter.”
Executive Director, Spaces For Change, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, welcomed the resumption of Twitter, but cautioned that users of Twitter for political campaigns must not be afraid of being held to account on Twitter.
This is as she expressed reservation that lifting the suspension may not be unconnected to heavy campaigns scheduled ahead of 2023 elections.
Ibezim-Ohaeri said in a statement: “I welcome the resumption of Twitter activities in Nigeria 222 days after it was banned by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Lifting the ban at a time the political temperature is heating up is fueling the perception that unbanning Twitter may not be unconnected to heavy campaigns scheduled ahead of 2023 elections.
“After election season, politicians develop Twitter-phobia, and strive to destroy the very bridge they used to climb to power. “Those who use Twitter for political campaigns must not be afraid of being held to account on Twitter”.
Presidential candidate of National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 Presidential election, Martins Onovo, an engineer, although he said it’s a welcome development, said that the ban should not have happened in the first place if not that this government is lawless.
“The first thing is that it improves communications, and with that it improves businesses and socio-economic activities.
“But it was unfortunate that the ban was put in the first place and the cost has been significant, all the same it’s a welcome development.
“The ECOWAS court has given several judgment against this President Buhari-led APC government, but the federal government is lawless, but we are unwilling to confess this, we are unwilling to admit it in the media that the Federal Government is lawless.
“It is not only in the ECOWAS court, all the judgment that El Zakzaky got which one was obeyed? All the ones that Dasuki got which one was obeyed?
“This is a lawless government, it is a full dictatorship, but the media, sadly enough, deliberately pretend that this is a democracy.
“And as long as we pretend, it is at our own cost. This is full dictatorship, I repeat,” Onovo maintained.
But despite overwhelming views that nothing gainful was achieved with the ban rather than a waste of energy and time, Abdullahi (NITDA DG) disclosed in a statement that the gains made from the shared national sacrifice were immeasurable.
The statement reads in part: “The process of resolving this impasse between the FGN and Twitter Inc. has helped lay a foundation for a mutually beneficial future with endless possibilities.
“Therefore, our engagement will help Twitter improve and develop more business models to cover a broader area in Nigeria”.
It noted further that some of the gains include, ongoing economic and training opportunities as the company continues to consider expanding its presence in Nigeria; getting a better understanding of how to use the Twitter platform effectively to improve businesses; revenue generation from the operation of Twitter in Nigeria; smooth and coordinated relationship between Nigerian government; and Twitter leading to mutual trust; reduction of cybercriminal activities such as terrorism, cyber stalking, hate speech, etc, and working with Twitter and other global companies to build an acceptable code of conduct following the global best practice.
It is obvious that the consolation of most Nigerians is that the platform is back, and businesses can now run as things will be expected to pick up with time.