In just two months, the Nigerian economy lost N153.43 billion due to a Twitter ban

The move by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to block Nigerians from using Twitter has cost Nigerian businesses at least N153.43 billion so far.

The restriction was declared on June 5, 2021, after President Buhari’s tweets were erased by the San Francisco-based digital business.

The ban has been in effect for 1,488 hours (62 days), and according to Netblocks Cost of Shutdown Tools, which uses the Free Digital App GDP effect technique, Nigeria has lost at least N103.1 million per hour, or $250,600 per day (exchange rate of N410.75/$).

Read also: Buhari directs Fashola, Malami, and others to engage in Twitter dialogue.

The Buhari administration has stated that the ban was necessary because the platform was being used for actions that could jeopardize Nigeria’s business survival.

The NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool uses indicators from the World Bank, International Telecommunication Union, Eurostat, and the United States Census to assess the economic impact of an internet outage, mobile data blackout, or app restriction in a country.

While Nigerians have switched to using Virtual Private Networks to access microblogging sites, traffic and engagements have declined dramatically.

Nigeria has around 33 million active social media users, according to Statista, with roughly 26% on Twitter.