A sustained war with Twitter and other social media platforms can, in the long term, portray Nigeria as a pariah nation, hostile to business and basic freedoms that progressive nations have come to take for granted. Twitter had written to President Buhari seeking to engage with the Federal Government over the suspension, with a view to charting a path forward. Before then, Twitter had irked Nigeria by choosing to locate its regional headquarters in Ghana instead of Nigeria where it has a higher number of users. However, the immediate cause of the suspension was the deletion of the president’s tweet, although the government also accused Twitter of yielding its platform to the enemies of the government. What is needed is a robust engagement with Twitter and other social media platforms to reverse negative perception of the intention of government, and thus safeguard the political and economic interests of Nigerians.

Source: The Guardian July 04, 2021 03:11 UTC