A Non-Governmental Organization, Face of Waziri-Nigeria (FoWN) has called President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind the ban placed on the microblogging site, Twitter.
The group said Twitter contributes reasonably to Nigeria’s socio-economic development, advising that the contribution should not be “sacrificed on flimsy bases.”
The Director General, FoWN, Mr Bukola Adeojo, in a statement made available to reporters on Friday, disclosed that the positive impact of the social media platform far outweighs its negatives.
Adeojo said the Buhari-led regime had benefited directly from social media platforms and enjoyed the ‘legitimate economic gains’ that they had been able to avail to ingenious young minds across the nation over time.
The statement read, “Social media platforms like Twitter have become veritable tools to knowledge-sharing, political awareness and socio-economic advancement in contemporary global communities.
“All election candidates since 1999 have benefited profoundly by deploying these tools. The current administration is one of the benefactors of social media in the country.
“More importantly, with the economic hardships in the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused global recession, Twitter and other social media platforms are major means of survival for millions of Nigerians.
“If the concern is indeed the divisive campaigns by some trends and social media handles, we caution that we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water, as one bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch.”
“We, therefore, call on the Federal Government to rethink and reflect on its order because of the importance of Twitter and other social media platforms as crucial developmental tools.”