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Twitter Ban: Nigeria’s Once Booming Tech Community Now in Shock

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The government’s sudden ban of Twitter could jeopardise one of the country’s most promising industries, according to Mail & Guardian.

Twitter Ban: Nigeria’s Once Booming Tech Community Now in Shock

Africa’s biggest startup story in 2020 was the acquisition, by US company Stripe, of Paystack —  an electronic payments processor that was founded in Lagos in 2015.

Valued at about $200-million, it was a landmark deal for Nigeria’s booming tech community.

A hunt for more Paystacks has ensued among local and international investors. They are worried about missing out.

With broadband penetration rising from less than 20% five years ago to more than 40% since May 2020, Nigeria’s information and communications technology sector is the fastest growing in the country, rising 6.31% in the first quarter of 2021.

The importance of this sector is only increasing, given the negative economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Africa’s largest economy, and the pressing need to diversify away from oil revenues.

Such metrics, including the fact that 81% of Nigerian adults own cellphones, encourage investors to part with even more unprecedented million-dollar checks, like the $10-million raised by digital bank Kuda at seed stage last November.

The appetite and tolerance for tech enterprise in Africa’s most-populous country has never been so high.

But this burst of energy and innovation is facing a familiar foe: the Nigerian government.

Last week, the federal government banned Twitter — one of the biggest social-media platforms in the world. The ban came after Twitter deleted a tweet issued from President Muhammadu Buhari’s account, saying that it amounted to a threat of violence. Businesses and media organisations in Nigeria have been instructed to delete their Twitter accounts, and ordinary citizens risk arrest for using the app.

The Twitter ban comes just six months after another major shock to the local tech industry, when the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered banks to stop enabling cryptocurrency transactions.

Suddenly, Nigeria is losing its appeal for tech investors.

“The truth is that regulatory risk has been the chief concern for us investors for a while,” Tokunboh Ishmael, a former board chair at the Africa Venture Capital Association, told The Continent.

Through Alitheia Capital, an investment firm, she has helped to fund Nigerian startups, including Paga, MAX and Lidya. In each case, “regulatory risk has factored high in our risk matrix”.

For Nigerian startups, this means that they need to offer investors a higher return on their investment than in more stable markets, Ishmael said.

Tayo Oviosu, who founded Paga in 2009, says a handful of investors have mentioned regulatory risk as their reason for not investing in the mobile-payments company, but such occasions have been rare in the past.

“That said, all investors consider the macroeconomic situation of any country they invest in, particularly if investing in a regulated sector.”

Operating costs

The Twitter ban will not only make it hard for Nigerian tech companies to raise money; for some of them, it will also make it difficult to operate. With its estimated two million users in Nigeria, Twitter is an important platform for businesses.

Eloho Omame, founding chief executive of Endeavor Nigeria and co-founder of a new firm aiming to fund female-focused startups with $25 000 seed money, said Twitter has been “essential as a touchpoint” with the founders and startups it serves.

Her firm, FirstCheck Africa, is essentially a startup in need of a platform to tell its story and gain traction with the women who could found Africa’s next big thing. “A not-insignificant part of our investment pipeline relies on outreach on Twitter and a lot of our hiring is done via Twitter. The ban has disrupted all of that. None of the alternatives are as efficient.”

Twitter has become a customer-service-management platform for new startups looking to be lean and nimble. Part of the success of Piggyvest, a popular savings app, is that it went from zero to 450 users in a year with next to nothing spent on marketing, relying on Twitter for customer acquisition.

With the ban, startups have pushed notifications explaining that Twitter support is now deactivated.

An email from Fairmoney, a digital bank, offered a phone number, an email and a Facebook page as alternative customer-service channels. Risevest, a stock-trading app, included Instagram among its alternatives. Henry Mascot, founder of Curacel — which provides fraud-detection technology for insurance companies — says the company has had to hire a new team outside Nigeria to manage its Twitter feed. That means more spending.

Staying hopeful

Mascot says it’s too early to know how bad the effect of the ban will be. His investors, who helped Curacel raise $450 000 this March, are in for the long run, but he is concerned about the message to the broader ecosystem of investors.

Oviosu, the Paga chief executive, is optimistic and says investors will observe the Twitter ban as an isolated issue and won’t be deterred from the market. Victor Basta, managing partner of Magister Advisors, which has advised on multimillion-dollar deals in Africa, sees the negatives of a social-media ban but doesn’t expect spillovers to fundraising work. “We have multiple deals ongoing with Nigerian companies and we see no backlash from this step.”

But in the present, founders and investors agree that a continued pattern of arbitrary regulatory changes is sending the wrong signal to people considering Nigerian startups as a destination for their capital.

“A government that’s consistently hostile to technology sends a message that its economy is less credible as a destination for important future-focused investments of time and money,”  Omame says. “We’re competing for talent and capital with ecosystems all over the world and we’re even further on the back foot.”


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NDPC Commits to Balancing Data Privacy, Protection Information

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Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), has expressed its commitment to balance information around data privacy and protection.

NDPC Commits to Balancing Data Privacy, Protection Information

Dr. Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner, NDPC, stated this in Abuja, at the National Data Privacy Summit with the theme, “Privacy in the Era of Emerging Technologies,” organised by the commission.

Olatunji said the NDPC, at the moment, was looking at balancing information around data privacy and protection.

“What we are doing is just to look at how to balance information around privacy and protection, which is really important, because as we are innovating, at the same time, we have to consider issues around privacy and protection,” he stated.

He added that the commission has been very bold in taking risks that would bring about growth.

“Our starting point is growing at a very alarming rate, and we are not afraid of anything. We can take risks. And that is why a lot is happening in Nigeria, and this is the level of clarity,” he explained.

In his address, Dr. Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),  stated that Internet of Things holds promise for Nigeria’s economy.

The EVC, who was represented by Abraham Oshadami, executive commissioner, Technical Services (ECTS), noted that, “in an era in which digital assets, Internet of Things, future digital computing and other transformative technologies are key, and both a cornerstone of building trust for the adoption and a prerequisite for sustainable progress.

“Emerging technologies hold immense promise for Nigeria’s grand economy, but they also introduce complex risks to personal and individual rights.

“So, balancing innovation through post-ethical safeguards and public trust is the first step to ensuring that global digital advancement benefits all Nigerians without compromising their privacy or their security,” he added.

“As we just heard from the Nigeria Police, telecom operators have a vast amount of sensitive historical information daily, including connectivity apps and collaboration on privacy, security, and number protection, both to their and their inheritors,” he said.

Dr. Bako Shurkuk, commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation, Plateau State, who represented Caleb Mutfwang, Governor of Plateau State, said, emerging technologies can be harnessed to attain sustainable growth.

 


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OADC Lagos Reinforces Commitment to Local Data Hosting and Digital Transformation @ NDPC’s National Privacy Week Summit

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Open Access Data Centres (OADC) Lagos has reaffirmed its commitment to Nigeria’s data protection and digital transformation agenda through its sponsorship and active participation in the Nigeria Data Protection Commission’s (NDPC) National Privacy Week Summit.

The National Privacy Week Summit, organised by the NDPC, convened policymakers, regulators, technology providers, and industry stakeholders to promote data privacy awareness, strengthen compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), and advance conversations around data security, sovereignty, and responsible data governance.

As a sponsor of the event, OADC Lagos demonstrated its continued support for the Federal Government’s drive toward local data hosting and data domiciliation, which are increasingly critical to safeguarding sensitive information, enhancing regulatory compliance, and building trust in Nigeria’s digital economy.

Through its carrier-neutral, Tier III Design certified data centre in Lekki, Lagos, OADC provides secure, resilient, and compliant infrastructure that enables government institutions and private sector organisations to host and manage data locally while meeting international best practices.

Commenting on the engagement, Adesola Adesugba, Country Marketing Manager, Open Access Data Centres Nigeria, said: “We are proud to have supported the Nigeria Data Protection Commission through the National Privacy Week Summit and to stand alongside the government in advancing Nigeria’s digital transformation objectives.

“Strengthening local data hosting and domiciliation is fundamental to national data sovereignty, improved security, and sustainable digital growth, and OADC Lagos remains committed to enabling this future.”

OADC’s participation at National Privacy Week Summit underscores its role as a trusted digital infrastructure partner to government and enterprise, supporting secure cloud connectivity, regulatory compliance, and the long-term development of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

Open Access Data Centres is part of the WIOCC Group and operates open-access, world-class data centres across Africa, serving cloud providers, network operators, enterprises, and public sector institutions.


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Kaspersky Launches OT Calculator to Align Cybersecurity Investments with Business Goals

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Kaspersky’s new online tool has been specially developed for industrial organisations to assess the potential costs associated with insufficient operational technology (OT) security.

By offering detailed financial forecasts, the calculator empowers senior management to make well-informed decisions regarding security investments.

Industrial organisations increasingly depend on interconnected systems, elevating cybersecurity to a critical factor in business resilience and profitability.

According to VDC Research, over 60% of industrial companies last year reported that cybersecurity breaches had led to significant costs. Despite this, a persistent disconnect remains between security teams and executive leadership as security professionals focus on minimising risk, while executives must balance cybersecurity concerns with broader business objectives. This misalignment often results in competing priorities and underfunded security initiatives.

To bridge this gap, Kaspersky has launched the OT Cybersecurity Savings Calculator, an innovative online tool designed specifically for industrial organisations to assess the potential costs of inadequate operational technology (OT) security¹.

The primary aim of this tool is to translate cyber risks into tangible financial metrics and support strategic discussions around priorities and budget allocation. By entering details such as their sector, sub-sector, region, company size, breach history, and existing cybersecurity measures, organisations can estimate their potential cost savings and receive customised, actionable recommendations.

The calculator benchmarks performance against industry peers and highlights the company’s position within the current threat landscape.

“We believe this calculator is a powerful resource for transforming complex cyber risk data into straightforward financial insights. It enables OT leaders, security professionals, and executive teams to develop clear, data-driven business cases and recognise the value of cybersecurity investments. With actionable guidance, it promotes a comprehensive approach to resource management and strengthens overall organisational resilience,” comments Andrey Strelkov, Head of Industrial Cybersecurity Product line at Kaspersky.


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