President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, January 12, approved the lifting of Twitter ban. This development came as a report claiming the Nigerian economy lost no less than N546.5 billion amid the suspension of the microblogging site, which lasted for over 200 days.
According to NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, Nigeria lost N104.02 million ($250,600) every hour to the ban, which brings the daily losses to N2.46 billion. BizWatch Nigeria understands that by the time the ban would be lifted, the number of hours in which Nigerians could not access Twitter had risen to 5,328 within a period of seven months.
And going by the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool’s estimation, the Nigerian economy had lost about N546.5 billion, as the Twitter ban had negative impacts on marketing companies, social media influencers, media, amongst other stakeholders in the country.
Venting his frustration on the Twitter ban, social media influencer Ahmed Ayoade otherwise known as Chief Agbabiaka, lamented to BizWatch Nigeria how he was almost frustrated. His words: “It seriously affected my business, and not just mine, but others in the media industry. Prior to the ban, business was booming, and it was due to the contracts we were getting from local and international brands. But not any longer.”
Continuing, Chief Agbabiaka said “sadly, some of these brands are loyal to the government of the day, or in fewer cases, scared. Hence, they did away with anything not in the interest of the incumbent administration of the country. The ban lasted for over 200 days, and I can tell that they either have no idea how people’s livelihoods have suffered, or don’t care at all. Now that the ban has been lifted, I just hope things will get better.”
Like Chief Agbabiaka, media personality and digital marketer Esther Adekeye, who’s popularly known as Cute Kimani, explained to this publication how the ban affected her.
“I lead an influencer marketing agency and one of our major channels is Twitter. The ban had a terrible effect on us. Most of the marketing plans made by brands for the year had to be switched from influencer marketing to digital marketing, which led to the cutting of budgets put in place to float influencers’ campaigns,” she lamented.
Similarly sharing his experience as it relates to the ban, Adegoke Pamilerin, a renowned social media influencer, lambasted how the government didn’t care about the people it’s serving.
He, however, noted that the ban was only lifted because of the forthcoming general elections next year (2023).
