Rethinking the Ban of Twitter in Nigeria By Henah Joseph
POLITICS DIGEST – The recent ban on Twitter by the Federal Government and attempts to extend same to Facebook is totally uncalled for and should be rejected by all lovers of democracy.
Report on the media showed that the ban on Twitter was as a result of taking down President Muhammadu Buharis controversial post on insecurity. The question now is, should the Presidency be “angered” by the actions of the American publisher he has no control over? Should his anger stand in the way of other citizens right to information and freedom of expression?
This ban on Twitter shows the Federal Governments resentment for the media and free speech which is the fundamental principle of a Democratic state. If we are really in democracy then freedom of expression and right to information is non-negotiable.
Even if the President’s perception about the media has not changed since 1984, when he promulgated decree 4, his aides who are communication scholars should have told him how tragic it will be to gag the media in this jet age.
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The presidency should learn from other democratic countries who faced similar issues. For example, “former United States President, Donald Trump was suspended indefinitely not only by Twitter but also by Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for his alleged role in the Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6, 2021. The American government didn’t order an indefinite suspension of these giant platforms simply because the most powerful man in the world had been taken off their platforms.”
The insensitive decisions hastily taken by our political leaders have grave consequences on our economy and the manner foreign investors and the world look at us. We can recall that Twitter the micro blogging giant decided to locate it’s African headquarters in Ghana; reasons were that Ghana was ‘a champion for democracy, a supporter of free speech, online freedom and the open internet.’ we can only imagine the opportunities our youths have missed, despite having a larger Twitter population than Ghana.
Moreover, Twitter has been a source of livelihood to many social media influencers. Many young Nigerians have invested their time and money to build huge audiences on the Twitter platform and help advertise brands, goods and services for different companies. This set of Nigerians have now joined the already impoverished ones roaming the street. “The current unemployment rate according to the National Bureau of Statistics is put at 33% which is one of the highest in the world”. This ban has no doubt increase the unemployment rate.
We demand that the Federal Government immediately invalidate the suspension. It doesn’t speak well of our nascent democracy. It is not part of the tenets of any civil society. Nigerians should strongly resist this act of dictatorship. We owe it to the future generations, to protect and secure an egalitarian society where freedom of speech and expression matters.
Henah Joseph
University of Maiduguri
Mass Communication Department
