The Nigerian economy has incurred N499.29bn losses since the microblogging app, Twitter, was shut down by the Federal government on June 4, 2021.
According to the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, Nigeria’s economy loses N104.02m ($250,600) every hour to the ban on Twitter. It has been 4,800 hours (200 days) since the social networking site was blocked.
In June, the federal government suspended Twitter in Nigeria days after a tweet by President Buhari on civil war was deleted by the microblogging site. The tweet had threatened to treat members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the “language they understand”.
In the tweet, Buhari cited the civil war and threatened to deal with those “bent on destroying Nigeria through insurrection.”
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he had tweeted.
The suspension came with a directive to telecommunication companies to block access to Twitter for their subscribers.
The government had, however, said the suspension had nothing to do with the deletion of the president’s tweet.
While giving his Independence Day speech, Buhari hinted that the ban would continue until Twitter registered in Nigeria, had a physical presence, and representation.
Recently, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, said Twitter had agreed to the nation’s conditions for the suspension to be lifted.
