New Telegraph

Twitter/VPN: Experts affirm Nigeria’s global vulnerability

Economy, security open to attacks
It’ll worsen employment, deterinvestors –Onyekpere
‘Political, diplomatic consequences of ban’

The decision by the Federal Government to ban Twitter may have further complicated a lot of things in the country following Nigerian Twitter users’ option to remain on the network through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The use of VPNs by many Nigerians to bypass the Twitter ban in the country is escalating Nigeria’s issues to other countries of the world. Several issues including killings in parts of the country are now trending in the Twitter space of countries like the U.S, Netherlands, Canada, among others.

This has also created global awareness about the Twitter ban in Nigeria. According to ICT experts, this is one of the unintended consequences of the ban by the Federal Government. The VPNs disguise the users’ IP as emanating from another country, other than the location of the users. Since the ban on June 5, many Nigerians have swooped on the various VPN applications in order to continue using Twitter. While the internet has made the world a global village in which information about any country can be gotten through an online search, industry analysts said the Twitter ban and the use of VPNs meant that people all over the world no longer need to search for any information about Nigeria, as all discussions about the country now land on their palms via Twitter.

Raising the alarm in a chat with New Telegraph, members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and information technology experts said the move could result in fraudsters and potential investors receiving unsavoury information about Nigeria since the tweets about the country now originate from foreign locations.

The private sector group explained that the speed with which Nigerians rushed to VPN was definitely a risk to national security and the economy amid non-protection and securitisation. According to a former President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Babatunde Ruwase, a chartered accountant, no doubt, there are economic implications and risk to businesses in the country for those patronising VPN for Twitter usage. “You are outside there doing something that people outside the world can see and you are also vulnerable as hackers can get into your system since you are not protected. And then, if they hack into your system they might get vital information about you. This can come in the form of financial consequences,” he said.

In the same vein, a former Chairman, LCCI SMEG (Small and Medium scales Enterprise Group), Dr. Jon Tudy Kachukwu, said there was an economic implication on the usage of VPN since it is not being protected as it exposes Nigerian businesses to global hacking. A Cyber security and Data Privacy Consultant, Mr. Muyiwa Awosile, noted that aside from exposing the country to the world, the use of VPN also exposes the users’ data to the whole world.

Read Previous

FEC okays N895.5bn supplementary budget for military, COVID-19

Read Next

Don’t pay ransome if I’m kidnapped – el-Rufai’s wife declares

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *