Nigeria Drops its Ban on Twitter and Prepares Legislation to Encourage Startup Companies

After nearly 7 months the Nigerians have dropped their ban on Twitter, and the company has agreed to register in Nigeria, appoint a designated country representative, and comply with tax obligations in Nigeria. The whole argument can be traced back to Twitter closing the President’s account over some statements he put out about the insurrection in Northern Nigeria which didn’t pass Twitter’s rules on inflammatory speech. Meanwhile, many ecommerce companies which used Twitter lost out – it has been estimated that e-merchants lost sales of around $200m due to the ban. The question now is will Twitter be able to reclaim their ecommerce customers, or have they transferred their allegiance to other social media?

Meanwhile, as we all know, Jack Dorsey stepped down from Twitter to concentrate on Square – or is that now Block? – in December and so missed all the good news from Nigeria.

Drafting started in July 2021 on the Nigeria Startup Bill, which will be the first joint initiative between the Nigerian presidency and the Nigerian tech ecosystem. The Bill aims to harness the potential of the country’s digital economy by providing startups with regulatory clarity, improved access to capital, and an enabling environment to support their growth and scalability. In another move, the government has published guides to help SMEs prepare for the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).