By Ijeoma Olorunfemi
It was a welcome development when the Federal Government on Jan. 13, 2022 lifted the seven-month ban on the social media platform, Twitter.
The ban was imposed based on issues bothering on the use of the platform for criminal activities, propagating fake news, polarising Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines, among other issues.
When Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, announced the ban on June 5, 2021, Nigerians resorted to a by-pass, Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access Twitter.
Mohammed after announcing the ban, said the company should pay tax to Nigeria, site an office in the country, and ensure it respects national interests, among other concerns raised.
These were some of the conditions the organisation must meet, to be granted permission to operate again in the country.
As a stopgap, VPN, which can change the tweeting location of someone to another location, was successfully used by some Nigerians while awaiting the return of their preferred social media platform.
However, government agencies, corporate organisations and notable institutions that wouldn’t want to attract the wrath of the government shunned it.
Mr James Onuh, a business man who uses the Twitter platform to promote his business, described it as a tool many young people use to express their opinions, build the future, and build their business ventures.
He regretted the period of the suspension.
“With the suspension of Twitter, the country lost a lot of economic resources especially from young people who use the platform to build their businesses.
“Whatever that was lost cannot be recovered and by now we should have been building on the gains for the past seven months.
“We just hope such move by the government does not happen again.
“Rather it should be a tool that can be used to hold government and other public officers accountable; this is democracy and there should be no control of freedom of speech.’’
Mrs Ijeoma Okigbo, a journalist, said the lifting of the ban “is a right step in the right direction.”
Okigbo described Twitter as “a tool to verify information, platform where news is broken, for growing businesses, political purpose achievements, facilitates development.’’
She said it should never have been overlooked for a long period.
Mr Jessy Hillary, a communication expert, said it is election year and considering the gains from the platform in previous elections, the administration had to lift the ban.
Hillary also recalled that Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated that the company must pay tax to Nigeria, site an office in the country, with some other criteria as conditions to be met before they could start operations again in the country.
An ICT expert, Mr Ajiboye Mayowa believes that Twitter should have `a face’ in Nigeria, be able to be regulated and have legal rights to operate.
“Twitter should have a face in our country.
“Sometime, early last year, when they said they were planning of building an office in Ghana, we felt disrespected knowing fully well that most users of the platform in Africa come from Nigeria.
“The step taken by the Federal Government is a good one, although it made some young people who depend on the platform for livelihood lose out, but it will benefit everyone at the end.’’
According to him, lifting of the ban will put both parties on the right path for us to enjoy the services of the platform again and help to boost businesses that were adversely affected.
Mrs Tinuola Popoola, another ICT expert, said that about three million active users of Twitter in Nigeria were adversely affected by the ban.
Popoola said that the Federal Government took a decision in the right direction, by lifting the ban, because it would encourage freedom of speech and information sharing.
“A lot of Nigerian youths who believe that these platforms are used for self-expression found it difficult to cope because the platform is always used by them to source information and opinions in different fields.
“Such fields include government’s ministries, departments and agencies, their officials, religious leaders, politicians etc.
“Twitter is one of the best social media platforms that made information sharing and self-expression very easy.
“Youths engage in different discussions and engagements which have facilitated easy access to information.’’
She also expressed regret that the ban had adverse economic implications.
She said this was because there was the blockage in the flow of information between and among business associates, loss of jobs, and inability to market businesses, remote customer service platforms, among others.
Popoola also said that the ban had adverse effect on the businesses of struggling Nigerians who relied on the use of digital marketing as a means of putting out their business to the world.
“Twitter and other social media platforms apart from being used for social engagements are platforms for doing business for productivity and money-making,’’Popoola said.
She, however, suggested that before such ban decisions are taken in the future, the long term implications should be thoroughly considered.
The respondents also stressed the need for better collaboration between the Federal Government and Twitter for smooth operations and benefit of users.
Olorunfemi writes for the News Agency of Nigeria
