Nigeria’s Economy Can’t Withstand Negative Impact Of Twitter Ban- LCCI

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that the Nigerian economy which narrowly escaped recession may not withstand the impact of the recent ban on US based micro-blogging site, Twitter by the Federal Government.

The Director-General of the LCCI made the position during a programme on Channels TV on Monday over concerns of rising unemployment which is currently 33.3 per cent.

The country is still on the path to recovery from the 2020 recession when the economy fell by -6.1 per cent and -3.62 per cent in the second and fourth quarter of 2020 respectively.

By the end of the fourth quarter, the economy marginally grew by 0.11 per cent and 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021.

The DG said, “Certainly, this is not something that the economy can afford especially at the time when we are talking about getting the economy to recover.

“We are talking about promoting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), creating jobs and all of that. I think this for me was a bit disproportionate in terms of the response of the government to what happened with regards to Twitter.”

The Federal Government had on Friday threatened to block the US based microblogging platform after it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘civil war’ tweet.

After deleting president Buhari’s Tweet, Twitter went further to ban his account for 12 hours after which it was restored.

“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” President Buhari threatened in a tweet on Tuesday.

By 12 midnight on Saturday, the Nigerian Communications Commission instructed Telecoms providers to block access to Twitter, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria said.

Yusuf said, “So, in things like this, I think we need to worry about the wider implications of the actions that you take. This is not to diminish the fact that the Federal Government may have a point in trying to seek redress as to the policy of Twitter.

“It is important to look at the wider implication. The implications for small businesses, those who are using the platform for advertising, for campaigns, sensitisation, infact, some people already have contractual obligations. There are contracts that have been signed with the use of the digital platform.

“So, these are things that we need to look at. Also it has implications even on the perception of the country. So, things like this need to be looked at very very carefully before we take actions of this nature.”