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The Federal Government has stated that no fewer than 53 African countries supported Nigeria in its handling of the ban on the microblogging social media platform, Twitter, a year ago, and that the fellow African countries are looking forward to adopting measures to address similar problems in their domains.
Prof. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, told journalists in Abuja that the Twitter impasse had resulted in the best relationship between Nigeria and the microblogging company than any other social media platform.
Pantami stated that the resolution of the disputes and the subsequent agreement had prompted follow-ups and inquiries from 15 West African countries, while other African countries praised Nigeria's courage and sought to implement such policies.
The Minister, who spoke on the takeaways from the maiden edition of the West African Digital Economy Conference at Transcorp Hotel in Abuja, said African countries also hoped to benefit from opportunities offered by usage of those micro-blogging sites by their citizens.
He stressed that other areas explored by sister countries that have shown interests on Nigeria’s digital policies are in relation to hate speech, identity theft, and blackmail for money on the cyberspace.
“Looking at the unity between the West African countries, 15 of them attended this conference; many ministers are in attendance. This is a clear indication that the major takeaway is our unity, which brings about collaboration.
“All over the world, there is no country that will develop digital economy without collaboration and partnership.
“That is key to the success, particularly. Digital inclusion cannot be achieved without it. You have to partner, collaborate with others, allow knowledge transfer, technology transfer, and come up with regulatory instruments that will cover the entire continent or sub-region.
“Secondly, it is the communiqué that the conference produced. If you go through the communiqué, indeed, it is very comprehensive. Many issues that will bring a win-win situation have been outlined in the communiqué for implementation by West African countries.
“Thirdly, don’t forget that this is the first regional digital conference in the entire West African region. There are so many gains.
“They are willing to adopt most of our policies that we have been implementing in Nigeria. They appreciated them, they commended our modest efforts of producing the policies and, particularly, how we have diversified the country through the ICT sector and digital services.
“And the last one they requested while I was speaking with them few minutes ago was the way and manner the Nigeria government dealt with the issue of Twitter.
“So, they are willing to learn how they can also get a copy of some of our agreements with them so that they can also adopt. They are also looking for the possibility where even the conditions can be accepted and adopted by the African continent so that we can have more converged efforts to addressing the challenges.”