The Nigerian government lifted the Twitter ban three days ago, after over seven months restriction that has pitied the government against the people, especially the youths.

As a section of the country, whose businesses were impacted by the ban heave sigh of relief, the Nigerian economy has begun to reckon with the consequences.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Friday that the Nigerian economy lost N10.72 trillion to the Twitter suspension. This was made known by a statement issued on Friday by Chinyere Almona, Director-General, LCCI.

“In business terms, the cost of the seven-month shutdown of Twitter operations in Nigeria is estimated to be N10.72 trillion ($26.1billion) according to Netblock’s Cost of Shutdown Tool,” Almona said.

The shocking decision to shut down the microblogging app over the deletion of president Buhari’s tweet in June last year, came off as an attack on free speech in addition to the huge weight of economy losses.

The N10.72 trillion loss, which represents about 63% of Nigeria’s N17.1 trillion budget for 2022, compounds the country’s economic struggles that have degenerated in the last five years, and has forced it to depend on borrowing to fund its budgets.

The decision has been largely described as economic sabotage by experts as it belies Buhari’s administration’s push to diversify the economy through digital inclusion. In the wake of the covid pandemic, Nigeria’s economy was sustained by the digital sector, laying a foundation that many believed that the government should have built upon to foster digital economy.

While she welcomed lifting of the ban, Almona sounded the reminder that the Information and Communications Technology sector was one of the growth drivers of the economy. She said digital platforms have become a viable tool for business operations and governance in engaging with a diversified audience and boosting digital transactions.

The LCCI director urged the government to use regulatory approaches in the dealing with digital issues, especial when it involves multinational companies.

“We, therefore, urge the government to create an enabling regulatory environment that supports global technology companies in achieving their potential and are sustainably profitable,” she said.

She added that improving Nigeria’s digital infrastructure from a policy perspective would boost healthcare delivery, agric-technology, learning, e-governance, and fintech.

“When this happens Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and revenue mobilisation will receive a boost through tax revenues from these companies,” she said.

Nigeria has a ban culture that is increasingly threatening its economic development. The African largest economy, who has over the past four years, placed ban on many digital innovations, including cryptocurrency, has been encouraged to develop regulatory frameworks in handling exigencies of digital tech development.

Almona said the Twitter ban should serve as a lesson, urging Nigeria and other nations to ensure balanced negotiation in the use of digital platforms for mutual benefits between governments and operators.

As the global economy shifts from natural resources to technology, many countries are positioning to grab a share by regulating emerging innovative ideas. Nigeria’s choice of banning everything the authorities do not agree with has been counterproductive, killing employment opportunities and immobilizing the country’s economic growth.

Get your PVC ready.

“The right to vote is the basic right without which all other rights are meaningless and baseless. It gives people, people as individuals control over their own destinies”. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson (Former President of the United States). 

The drum rolls for the 2023 elections, everyone is all charged up and ready for the elections; both those contesting for offices and the electorates willing to exercise their franchise.

So far, only nine persons have openly indicated interest and publicly declared their intentions to contest for the highest seat in the land. More people are definitely going to raise their hands to show interest in the presidential bid subsequently but as of today, we have only nine contestants who have held press conferences declaring their interests to grab the presidential seat.

Some of the aspirants claimed that becoming the president of Nigeria is their destinies and their life time dreams which they must fulfill while some took it to the spiritual and faith dimension; claiming that it has been prophesied that they are the ones that have been anointed by God himself to take the Nation to the promise land and it must come to pass as it has been prophesied just like in the days of Elijah. 

The people that have made their presidential intentions known to the public are: Bola Tinubu; the former Governor of Lagos state and All progressive Congress National leader, Anyim Pius Anyim; the former Secretary General of the federation, Dave Umahi; the incumbent governor of Ebonyi state, Yaya Bello; the current governor of Kogi state, Dele Momudu; the Chairman of the Ovation media, Kingsley Moghalu; Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yul Edochie; the Nollywood actor, Orji Uzor Kalu; former Governor of Abia state and Khadijah Okunnu- Lamidi; Media Entrepreneur.

Political analysts and spectators are speculating that the numbers of those interested in the presidential seat will increase in the coming days. There are speculations that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan is also interested to get back to power and also the incumbent Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo May also be “under pressure” to join the ring for the Aso rock king’s seat, also the former Vice President and a regular in the presidential election contest, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will definitely be interested this time again but he’s yet to make his intentions public. 

Citizens of Nigeria should know that it all boils down to them, the electorates who are willing to exercise their right to vote, they are the deciders of who gets on to power come 2023 and this is the reason why every citizen who is eligible to vote and have the interest of the nation at heart should get his or her permanent voters card (pvc) ready and make sure he or she exercises his fundamental human right to vote as provided in s.40 of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.