***Charge Nigerians to Develop Homegrown, Competitive Social Media Applications
Our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) salutes President Muhammadu Buhari and the patriotic citizens of our nation for standing firm against the interference of Twitter Inc. in Nigeria’s internal and national security affairs.
Mr. President indeed stood up for the sovereignty of our nation until Twitter acceded to all six demands of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerning their practices in matters concerning our nation.
We also applaud Twitter for allowing good reason and common interest prevail by agreeing to open their office in Nigeria. This is a win-win for all parties and will create jobs and gainful opportunities for Nigerians in the global digital space.
By also agreeing to enrol Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals, Twitter has demonstrated it’s commitment to help Nigeria fight crime and criminals on their platforms who violate both Twitter rules and Nigeria’s laws.
Our party, therefore applaud the decision by Mr. President to lift the suspension on Twitter’s activities in Nigeria, we encourage our supporters to return to the platform and continue to spread the achievements of President Buhari and our great party.
Still, we should not rest on our oars. Russia has VKontakte (VK), China has Weibo, among several homegrown social media platforms. Nigerians talented in the development of social media/software applications are challenged to develop homegrown applications that can rival existing social media platforms and meet the need of Nigerians.
Finally we reiterate our charge to operators of social media pages to use their platforms to check divisive and inciting rhetoric, particularly in Nigeria. They have an important responsibility to curb fake news, disinformation, hate speech, among others.
SIGNED:
Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe Ph.D
National Secretary
APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC)
