‘Twitter ban is a blow on digital economy’
A civil society organisation, the Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers (ATCIS) has said the ban on Twitter by the federal government is a blow on the country’s digital economy.
As the association presses on its advocacy in the interest of subscribers in Nigeria, it again demanded that the authorities immediately rescind the suspension of operations of the microblogging site for the sake of the country’s democracy and it’s teeming youths who make their living legitimately on the social media.
Sina Bilesanmi, President of the association said what is at stake by the ill-advised decision of the government is more consequential than the one Tweet of Mr President that was deleted by the microblogging site after it considered the post inciting and cable of provoking civil unrest.
The ATCIS president said, although the position of the Nigerian authority is also well understood as there is need to checkmate abuse of any freedom where and when necessary, he however stressed that the case at hand only shows abuse of power by the authority, adding “Nigerians should not pay for a Tweet deleted by Twitter”.
Bilesanmi urged the Nigerian authorities to look at alternative options to settle the matter with Twitter management, by summoning Twitter team talk out the matter.
He said, “By shutting down the platform which has become the means of livelihood to many Nigerian youths, the government has created another problem that is weighty more than the deleted tweet of Mr. president.
“In addition, the Nigerian constitution clearly spells out the right of the people to freedom expression without interference. If Twitter has so far served as a platform for people to enjoy that right, the current action of the government contravenes that constitutional provision.
“One other thing we observed is the speed at which the federal government carried out the suspension of Twitter in less than 24 hours after announcement. As a body of subscribers affected by many challenges facing the country, we urge Mr. President to address these problems with similar alacrity.”
The Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS) is a subscriber right advocacy body that promotes subscribers’ interests in Nigeria as well as defending their rights since it was founded in 2014.
