Eniola Olorundare
The Twitter ban in Nigeria is now 100 days and within this period, Nigeria has lost a total sum of N247.61bn while Twitter has also account for 3.192bn loss.
Twitter was suspended by the Federal Government on June 4, after the platform deleted a tweet by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Following, telcos on June 5, blocked access to Twitter after receiving a directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria also voiced out saying, “We, The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria wish to confirm that our members have received formal instructions from the Nigerian Communications Commission, the industry regulator, to suspend access to Twitter.”
“ALTON has conducted a robust assessment of the directive in accordance with internationally accepted principles.”
According to the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, the blockade costs Nigeria’s economy N103.17m ($250,600) every hour.
It has been 2,400 hours since the FG banned Twitter.
Nigerians are expectant on development as lifting the ban.
The Presidency through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said, it was close to an agreement with Twitter and would soon lift the ban.
Since the ban, the use of Virtual Private Networks has risen.
Nigeria is among the list of countries such as China, Iran, and North Korea that have banned Twitter.
A firm, ExpressVPN reports that it has recorded an increase of over 200 percent in web traffic from Nigeria since the Federal Government banned microblogging site.
