After 5,328 hours, amounting to 222 days, the Nigerian government lifted the ban on Twitter operations in the country earlier in the week.
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.
A statement by the Chairman Technical Committee of the Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said President Muhammadu Buhari approved the lifting of the ban effective from 12:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
The government had suspended Twitter operations indefinitely on June 4, after it alleged that the micro-blogging site was being used to undermine “Nigeria’s corporate existence” through the spreading of fake news with potential for “violent consequences”.
Soon after the suspension, the government directed broadcasting stations to suspend “patronage” of the platform, describing its further use by the broadcast stations as “unpatriotic.”
The government was, however, largely perceived as interested in clamping down on voices of dissent, constricting the social media rather than cultivating its growth potentials, with ripple effects on the investment climate of the country.
At the height of the ban, however, many Nigerians ignored the government’s directive and bypassed it by using Virtual Private Network (VPN) applications to remain active on social media site. The government’s move was equally condemned by many Nigerians, civic groups and the international community.
Triumph or Concession?
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