Presidential aide, Tolu Ogunlesi has in a scathing remark lambasted those mocking Nigeria in the aftermath of Twitter situating its African Headquarters in Ghana, Njenje Media News reports.
Twitter through its CEO, Jack Dorsey had on Monday stated that it would be making Ghana’s capital its headquarters in its bid to enter into the African market.
The announcement was very pleasant news to many Ghanaians with President Nana Akufo-Addo calling it “excellent news”.
While the people of Ghana were celebrating the new development which many believe will help the nation’s economy by creating more jobs and opportunities for young people, some Nigerians were not so pleased.
Many Nigerians were not happy that Twitter chose Ghana instead of Nigeria.
However, their grievances were not against the tech company nor Ghanaians, but against the Nigerian government and those at the helm of state affairs in the country.
Most Nigerians who reacted to the move argued that if all things were as they should be, then Nigeria’s population should be enticing enough to have Twitter make the country its African base.
They also fault the government for its policies which they described as unsuitable for investors such as Twitter, especially with several reports suggesting that Nigeria’s legislature has from time to time deliberated on laws that tend to muffle the rights of individuals (mostly the rights to free speech).
Ogunlesi, in a tweet thread, described such insinuations by Nigerians as “silly”.
He stated that when Microsoft opened $100 million development centers in Nigeria and Kenya (the first two in Africa), nobody went about dissing South Africa or politicizing it.
“When Microsoft opened $100m development centers in Nigeria and Kenya @MicrosoftADC (first two in Africa!) nobody went about dissing South Africa or politicizing anything. Because it’d have been silly. Grow up, guys!
“Jan 2020: GOOGLE: ‘Today, we launched our first Google Developers Space on the African continent, in Lagos, Nigeria. The Google Developers Space is a hub for African developers, entrepreneurs & startups & will house the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa.
“One of Google’s new big investments is in a new undersea cable that’ll be landing first in Nigeria & SA (Nigeria is the first branch!), ‘with approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve this region.’ It is named after a Nigerian!
“The Equiano cable landing site is located on Elegushi beach, near Yemi Adetayo Street, Elegushi, Lekki, Lagos. WIOCC has acquired the land to build the new cable landing station,” he said.
