Nigeria is now on Twitter: Here’s why it is important

folarin okunola

June 12, 2017 4:49 PM

Handling of the Twitter account will be open to different Nigerians from time to time.

Professor Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria has gotten its own

According to the Nigeria handle, handling of the Twitter account will be open to different Nigerians from time to time. Countries like Ireland and Sweden have a similar practice.

For a traditionally analog country, a Twitter handle is not exactly something you would expect to see from the government. However, this foray into social media did not happen by chance.

At the height of the Buhari presidential campaign, in the latter days of 2014, Nigerians saw a presidential candidate utilize social and digital media/tools in ways that have never been seen before.

From Twitter and Facebook to YouTube and the Linda Ikeji Blog, Buhari’s media team extensively utilized several digital resources to reinvent the former military ruler’s image and craft a narrative so compelling, he became the first democratically-elected Nigerian president to oust an incumbent.

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That’s why it didn’t come as a surprise when the President appointed Tolu Ogunlesi, a two-time CNN Journalist of the Year, Blogger and early Twitter adopter, to head the government’s digital communications.

Shortly after Ogunlesi’s appointment came a government newsletter, then a podcast, DropBox use, blogging and even livetweeting info from the floor of the Senate.

No other Nigerian government has utilized digital tools like the current administration and it led to more millennials interacting more (or being aware of, at least) with the country’s political landscape.

Obviously, there is still a lot of work to do in the area of e-governance and digitisation of government processes, but the government is doing reasonably well as far as communication is concerned.

What do you think about all of this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. We love to hear from you!

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