Why Twitter Shunned Nigeria – PDP |The Source

By Adesina Soyooye

Nigeria’s main opposition political party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has lamented the choice by Twitter to locate its African Headquarters in Ghana, instead of Nigeria.

Most Nigerians were, at  once, shocked and aghast, when Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey announced on Monday that his company’s African  Headquarters would be located in Ghana.

Considering the population of Nigeria, and the number of Nigerians who subscribed to Twitter, not a few people think it is a snub on Nigeria and a vote of confidence on Ghana by Twitter. They, also.  think it is a thumbs down on Nigeria, a country which is not only the most populous black country, but which, also, claims to be Africa’s largest economy. “It is a shame. It is a vote of confidence on Ghana’s economy and infrastructure, and security”, an industrialist told this magazine.

About 39.6 million Nigerians, a number larger than Ghana’s population are subscribed to Twitter. But the country’s infrastructure deficit, and the worsening insecurity, do not recommend it to any serious   international investor.

The PDP agrees with these opinions, and blame the  President Muhammadu Buhari Government for the snub.

In a statement by the Party, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said it was ashamed of what Nigeria has been reduced to under the APC and President Buhari.

Said the PDP, “Indeed the decision by Twitter to bypass  Nigeria to locate its African Operational base in Ghana is another sad commentary of how our Nation, which was hitherto a global investment hub under the PDP, has now been so degraded in global economic competitiveness under the APC.”

Following is the full text of PDP’s statement entitled:

Buhari, APC’s Misrule Pushed Twitter to Locate African HQ In Ghana Instead of Nigeria, Says PDP

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) laments that the unabating misrule of the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) pushed Twitter to take its African Headquarters to Ghana instead of Nigeria, despite the fact that Nigeria has far more twitter traffic and more business prospects than Ghana.

“The PDP says Twitter’s preference for Ghana over Nigeria was occasioned by inconsistent economic policies, obnoxious suppression of free speech, stifling of online freedom and open internet by the Buhari administration and the APC.

“This is in addition  to infrastructural decay, massive corruption and manifest failure of the Buhari Presidency and the APC to address the escalated insecurity brought upon our nation by their incompetent watch.

“Indeed the decision by Twitter to by-pass Nigeria to locate its African operational base in Ghana is another sad commentary of how our nation, which was hitherto a global investment hub under the PDP, has now been so degraded in global economic competitiveness under the APC.

“Nigerians were heavily despaired on Monday when the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, announced that his company will be setting up its headquarters on the continent in Ghana despite Nigeria’s domineering twitter traffic in the sub region.

“With an estimated 39.6 million twitter subscribers in Nigeria, which is bigger than the population of Ghana, Nigeria ought to be the destination, but for the anti-people policies of the APC administration.

“It is sad that our nation has continued to lose huge foreign direct investments, which would have brought in more economic opportunities, especially for our youths, just because the Buhari Presidency and the APC lack the capacity to deliver on good governance.

“The preference by Twitter for Ghana over Nigeria has further demonstrated that the Buhari administration’s claims on ease of doing business in Nigeria are mere media hypes.

“Moreover, if President Buhari and the APC have the interest of the struggling youth demography of our nation at heart, they ought to have taken the necessary proactive steps to ensure that Twitter brought this huge investment to Nigeria, particularly given that we have the highest number of Twitter users on the continent.

“It is indeed disturbing that the Buhari administration is taking no decisive steps to address the worsening situation in our country, which has become the world poverty capital under their watch.

“The incompetence, insensitivity, corruption and laid-back attitude of the Buhari administration have continued to bring woes to our nation with an escalated 33% unemployment rate, closure of over 40 million hitherto vibrant businesses with millions of families now unable to afford the basic necessities of life.

“It is painful that despite our national potentials, President Buhari administration has not shown the required commitment of engaging foreign investors and captains of industries to attract investments as being done by Presidents of other countries.

“Instead the Buhari Presidency is only interested in accumulating foreign loans and mortgaging the future of our nation.

“It has therefore becomes clearer that our nation cannot achieve any headway with the APC on the saddle.

“The PDP therefore charges Nigerians to remain focused as we collectively rally on the opportunities granted by democracy to rescue our nation from the stranglehold of APC misrule.”

In the recent past months, a couple of companies have left Nigeria. A couple of weeks ago, Shoprite, a South African Group said it has concluded plans to divest its shares in Nigeria.