NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool has been used to estimate the billion naira loss for the Nigerian economy 2 months after President Buhari’s administration banned the microblogging platform Twitter.

According to the tool, Nigeria’s economy loses N102.7 million per hour to the Twitter ban. This translates to an N150.5 billion revenue loss within 61 days, since the ban was announced.

Telecommunication companies in the country enforced the shutdown of Twitter on June 5, after receiving directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to block Nigerians from accessing the application.

While many young Nigerians have defiled the ban by subscribing to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access Twitter,  human rights activists and groups have chosen to challenge the Federal Government’s decision at international courts.

ExpressVPN in June stated that it recorded an increase of over 200 percent in web traffic from Nigeria since the Federal Government banned Twitter.

Nigeria has about 33 million active social media users, with about 26 percent on Twitter, according to data from Statista.