Founder of Ogelle, Africa’s first user-generated content platform,
Osita Oparaugo has added his voice to the calls on the Federal
Government of Nigeria to lift its ban on Twitter.
Oparaugo made this appeal in a New Year’s message issued on Saturday,
saying the Twitter ban has served its purpose and needed to be
reversed.
He also called on all Africans, at home, and in the Diaspora, as well
as global lovers of African content to embrace Ogélle as the platform
continues to build Africa’s online community.
“Millions of Nigerians are still on Twitter and a lot more will join
this year using VPN. So, what use is the ban if not sending the wrong
message that Nigeria is not favorable to investors and the government
is against freedom of speech?” Oparaugo said.
Twitter has stayed banned in Nigeria since June 4, 2021, when the
The Nigerian government announced an indefinite suspension of the
microblogging site’s operations in the country.
The ban has been reported to have adversely affected economic and
business activities in the country, especially for Small and
Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) who do business on Twitter.
According to NetBlocks, a watchdog organization that monitors
cybersecurity and governance of the Internet, Nigeria loses N2.46
billion daily to the Twitter ban at the rate of $250,000 (N102.5
million) per hour.
But millions of Nigerians have bypassed the ban to access Twitter
through VPN. Days after the ban, ExpressVPN reported an over 200
percent increase in web traffic and searches for VPN spiked across the
country.
In his Independence Day broadcast on October 1, 2021, Nigeria’s
President Muhammadu Buhari gave five conditions that Twitter must
fulfill for the ban to be lifted. Hopes were raised that the ban was
at an end, but Twitter operations have remained banned in Nigeria into
the new year.
“The government has made its point, and Twitter should by now
understand the direction. It is time to let Nigerians enjoy the
platform and promote their work,” the Ogelle founder said.
Launched in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Ghana in 2019, Ogelle offers 100
percent African content from the six regions of the continent as well
as the Diaspora Africa. Ogelle currently boasts of over 30,000 videos
with over one million users. The platform targets 100 million general
users and 5 million premium users by 2025 and is committed to its
vision of becoming the highest aggregator of African resource and
entertainment content in the next few years.
