Lift Twitter ban, Economic Summit Group pleads with Buhari

Twitter Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari

NESG pleads with Buhari to lift Twitter ban
NESG pleads with Buhari to lift Twitter ban

By Abankula

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has urged the Federal Government to lift the suspension of Twitter in the interest of the economy.

In a statement, the NESG said rescinding the suspension will foster inclusive development, global competitiveness, and much faster economic growth in Nigeria.

The suspension, it said will hurt small businesses and the inflow of foreign investments.

“Despite the inflow of investment into the digital economy, overall Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into Nigeria is yet to achieve its true potential.

“In the last five years, FDI inflows into Nigeria has remained around $1billion, according to data from the NBS. This amount is meagre compared with the inflows of countries such as Egypt, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Related News

“At a difficult time like this, when Nigeria must grow its economy, plug into the global digital revolution, attract patent international capital and sustained foreign currency inflow to address our foreign exchange challenges, the temporary suspension of Twitter in Nigeria sends out a wrong signal and will stand in the way of our path to rapid economic recovery.

“In addition to the negative effect of the suspension on investments, small businesses that engage in digital trade will be gravely affected, raising further concerns on unemployment, poverty, insecurity, and our economy’s attractiveness.”

Minister of Information Lai Mohammed announced the suspension of Twitter two weeks ago, after the platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari it considered “a violation” of its rules.

Mohammed had told people campaigning against the ban for economic reasons to migrate to other social media platforms.

Since then, he had dredged all manners of issues to complicate the suspension, though Twitter had written to seek audience with the government.

Load more