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By Nwakaego Alajemba
As long as Twitter is shut out of the Nigerian market, the country could be losing over two billion naira daily, to go by the calculation of some experts using the Brookings Institution research methodology. The information is trending within the social media community.
Not all that Twitter is gold – platform value to Nigeria’s environment unduly exaggerated
But some experts do not agree with this standpoint. They think Twitter’s economic value to Nigeria’s business environment appears unduly exaggerated. “You can[not] only use Brookings Research methodology when referring to tax paying organizations using Twitter as a form of messaging or branding tool. [About]98% of Nigerian based Twitter-reliant brands DO NOT pay income tax to Nigeria. So that assumption of losses does not apply,” countered James Agada, former managing director of CWG Plc.
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With more than two million users, Nigeria is a major market for Twitter. There are roughly 28 million social media users in Nigeria as at May 2021 notes Statista. According to Statcounter, social media stats in Nigeria shows that Facebook has 56.46%; Twitter 25.52%; Pinterest 7.83%; Instagram 5.25%; YouTube 3.41%; and LinkedIn 0.86%.
Several digital businesses value at billions of naira are built on the platforms of Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has expressed reservations over government’s decision to suspend the operation of the micro blogging site. The NBA warns that the actions could undermine investors’ confidence even as it contends that it “finds no constitutional or legal authority to support the peremptory action of the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.”
“Beyond the dent on our constitutional democracy, at a time when the Nigerian economy is unarguably struggling, the impact of arbitrary decisions such as this on investor confidence is better imagined.“
Will banning Twitter muzzle Nigeria’s digital economy?
While many experts are worried that the suspension could negatively undermine the country’s digital economy agenda, others think it might provide an opportunity to grow the market for local social media apps.
“It’s time to expand the window for local efforts to get people digitally connected,” said one app developer in Lagos. “This could bee both problem and a solution,” he added.
But many are not impressed.
In fact, one operator warned that financial technology (fintech) companies and the horde of businesses managed by thousands of young Nigerians and driven largely by social media platforms will be grossly undermined, one expert warned in Lagos.
He said many investment platforms including the likes of Piggyvest, Paystack, Interswitch, and Flutterwave face a major challenge to retain investors and market confidence as government decision strongly indicates a shaky business environment.
COVER IMAGE: BBC
