Considering the economic implications of Twitter ban – Sanwo-Olu warns FG

The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has advised the federal government for considering the economic implications of the decision made in the suspension of microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in the country.

The governor said the federal government could have handled its disagreement with Twitter better.

Newsflash Nigeria had reported that the Federal Government had on Friday announced the suspension of Twitter service in the country.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed made the announcement during a press conference.

He cited the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.

Also, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) declared that any Nigerian still making use of the banned platform would be arrested and prosecuted by the government.

The development led to the blocking of access to the micro-blogging platform by MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, and other networks.

Reacting to the suspension of the platform, Sanwo-Olu, in a chat with Arise TV on Monday, said considering the economic implications of the decision, the federal government could have handled the situation better.

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He then asked that both parties work out rules of engagement going forward.

“Federal government can handle this a lot better. Because of the number of eCommerce, the number of youths doing digital stuff on the internet, and we cannot throw that away and say it’s not happening. I believe there could be a lot of restraint and better management from both sides,” the governor said.

“On both sides, there are issues that can be resolved between Twitter and the government and I think what they’ve done is not a ban but a suspension like they said, so in the period of suspension let us sit down.

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“If we have 40 million users of that micro-blogger and another country has five million and they chose to take their investment to a country that have five million compared to a country with 40 million. It speaks to the reason we need to have that conversation with them. Probably if they have an office here things would have been done a lot quicker and better.”

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