Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State says the Federal Government cannot ignore the economic impact of its ban on the microblogging platform, Twitter.
The federal government had slammed a ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria last Friday after the San Francisco-based social media giant deleted tweets by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), for violating its community guidelines.
In banning Twitter, the Buhari government had cited the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” as its excuse.
On Monday, Sanwo-Olu while featuring on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ programme noted that “people are losing money but there are also security issues. Let us be circumspect and not throw the baby away with the bathwater.”
He said, “Regarding the specifics around Twitter, I cannot sit down here with all of the responsibilities that I have and fly (sic) the commander in chief of the armed forces. He would have the prognosis and security information that I do not have. I cannot begin to say that what he’s done is right or wrong.
“What I see is that on both sides, there are issues that can be resolved between Twitter and the (Federal) Government and I think what they’ve done is not a ban but a suspension. So, in the period of suspension, let us sit down…we need to have that conversation with them (Twitter).
“In other climes, they sign some underlying agreements on the rules of engagement. I am not sure that is happening here. Having said that, the Federal Government can also handle things a lot better because of the number of e-commerce, because of the number of youths that are doing a lot of things on the internet and we cannot throw that away.
“I believe there could be better restrain and management from both sides. In the next one or two days, let us see that happen. Lagos is hurting, our youths are hurting, Nigeria is hurting, let us understand the issues and put it behind us so that we don’t politicise it.”
Though mobile operators have blocked their customers in the country from using Twitter, many Nigerians have switched to the use of Virtual Private Networks to bypass the blockage.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had also ordered the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation to prosecute offenders contravening the government’s Twitter ban.
