By David Onimisi Lawani
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has challenged talented Nigerians to see the ban on Twitter as an opportunity to develop social media/software in the country to meet the needs of Nigerians for homegrown applications that can rival existing social media platforms and meet the need of Nigerians.
John James Akpanudoedehe, it’s National Secretary Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, in a statement signed by him said Russia has VKontakte (VK), China has Weibo, among several homegrown social media platforms.
According to him: ” The APC believes that the country has the potentials and talents that can develop alternative and competitive applications to existing platforms in the world. Twitter’s suspension will undoubtedly serve as a positive trigger to unleash the creative potentials of Nigerians in the global digital space.
“This is a challenge to our vibrant youths with such talents. They will get support in the exercise from relevant federal government agencies as well as the numerous Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training and research establishments in the country.
“The recent announcement by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy that Nigeria will soon start the production of smartphones and Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards for the African market is evidence that the country has what it takes to make a deep and strong foray into the global ICT industry”, he said.
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He added that the party had before now advised Twitter as a platform to use their regulatory powers to check activities of divisive elements in their midst as some were bent on using it to promote falsehoods and fake news.
“The APC had earlier released a statement asking Twitter and other operators of social media pages to use their platforms to check divisive and inciting rhetoric, particularly in Nigeria. We tasked them with the important responsibilities to curb fake news, disinformation, hate speech, among others. Evidently, Twitter failed to do this and even allowed their platform to be used by arsonists, insurrectionists, and separatists in the country.
“We are a democratic and independent nation, citizens should defend our sovereignty by supporting the federal government’s Twitter suspension. It is in our national interest”, he stressed.
