This was confirmed in an analysis by Netblocks’ Cost of Shutdown Tool (COST), which showed that the ban had cost Nigeria over $12million (N6billion) in revenue as of 7:00 am on June 7, 2021. The tool pegged a single-day total internet outage cost at $135million (N48.596 billion) in economic value, adding that Nigeria will lose $30million (N10.885 billion) per day if Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Twitter are all shut down. (The methodology estimates Total cost in local currency is NGN 48,596,413,850 Nigerian Naira (NGN) using exchange rate as of November 2019.)
Nigeria’s ban on popular social media app Twitter is resulting in “financial losses” of up to $250,000 (N90.7million) per hour for the country and has put many jobs at risk since the ban came into effect three days ago.
Nigeria is losing $180k per hour in revenue after Twitter ban – NetBlocks says
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Twitter, an American microblogging and social networking service which allows users to post and interact with messages known as "tweets", is one of the world’s most popular apps and has been downloaded by nearly 40 million users so far in Nigeria. The implication of the ban would result in the reputation and goodwill of the country taking a hit with both advertisers and investors.
Apart from the financial implications, the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of free speech and expression of numerous Nigerian citizens have been severely impacted as the platform plays an important role in political debate and the discussion of issues in the country. This has further increased worry for many citizens who foresee legal issues mounting if the authorities increasingly regulate content on their platforms.
Several local and foreign organisations, including the United States mission in Nigeria, have urged the federal government of Nigeria to quash the ban and direct their focus on key macroeconomic issues, particularly poverty and insecurity. The calls have, however, fallen on deaf ears as the federal government has so far not provided any interim relief on repeated pleas and has instead reached out to the Cyberspace Administration of China to discuss plans to build an Internet firewall, according to a new report by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).
