WHAT HOPE FOR DIGITAL BUSINESSES DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA?: AN ASSESSMENT OF ONLINE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TWITTER’S SUSPENSION

Abstract

A recent World Bank report reveals that poverty has been decreasing in all regions of the world with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as more than 45% of countries in the sub-region are off-track from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) extreme poverty target. Asanga, Boateng & Akamavi (2016). Hoofmann (TRT News, 2021) echoed similar view when he said that Nigeria has the largest number of people in poverty in the world, with the unemployment rate among 15-34-year-old around 35 percent in 2020; adding that: “Twitter is a digital platform that has been a crucial link in the operations of millions of small and medium-sized enterprises; it allows the kind of business that gives consumers options which leads to innovation and better products and services. It was estimated that the nation stands to lose a whopping sum of N650 million monthly if Twitter suspension remains in place. This paper thus explores the suspension of Twitter operations and reactions by Nigerians and the international community; using the content analysis and case study research designs; while agenda-setting and innovation theories served as the study theoretical foundation to examine how innovative communication will foster the pace of economic development which Nigerians genuinely crave for. Study found that all online news content analysed were foreign based newspapers/ magazines; 6 representing 66.7% of the entire stories dwelt on abuse of freedom of the press; freedom of expression and human rights issue, while economic and political headlines on the ban were two and one stories representing 22.2% and 11.1% respectively.