While Ghanaians were ‘feeling’ on Monday, April 12, 2021, their neighbours Nigerians were ‘bleeding’ over Twitter’s decision to by-pass them and pitch camp in Ghana as its Africa headquarters.
The social media company announced that Ghana has become its gateway to Africa and will become the hub of its activities on the continent.
A statement released by Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey said “as a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa.
“Whenever we enter new markets, we work hard to ensure that we are not just investing in the talent that we hire, but also investing in local communities and the social fabric that supports them. We have already laid foundations through partnerships with Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Afrochella in Ghana, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) in Nigeria, and The HackLab Foundation in Ghana”.
Ghana’s president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said “The choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is EXCELLENT news. Gov’t and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country.
“As I indicated to in our virtual meeting of 7th April 2021, this is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the dev’t of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector” .
Unsurprisingly, TwitterInGhana took led the trends on the platform as Ghanaians celebrated the hosting of one of the world’s foremost social media brands.
But while Accra was buzzing with excitement, Abuja was seething with rage as residents could not fathom the ‘smaller’ Ghana will be picked over the ‘bigger’ Nigeria which has the largest Africa population on Twitter.
While some of them focused their energy on attacking Twitter, a significant majority made an honest assessment of the situation and realized that Ghana in its current state is a suitable place for business than Nigeria.
They, therefore took matters to their government and slammed them for past and present decisions that have left the country in its current state.
Below are some tweets
I am happy that Twitter is building a dev team in Africa.
— Dr. Tayo Oyedeji (@tayooye) April 13, 2021
The team is focused on Africa's LARGEST market (Nigeria) but will be based in its SANEST market (Ghana).
Sanity > ingenuity.
Nobody wants to deal with erratic regulators, poor infrastructure, and security concerns.
Ghana is attracting foreign investors, while Buhari/APC are busy attracting foreign terrorists and building bridges abi rail for their easy passage.
— Somto Onuchukwu (@chosensomto) April 13, 2021
In GHANA, you get a SIM at the airport.
— Adetutu Balogun, MBA (@Tutsy22) April 13, 2021
In NIGERIA, you get a SIM while boarding your flight back, after 7 days trip:
Day 1-2: Apply & receive BVN
Day 3-6: Apply & receive NIN
Day 7: Get SIM
The Ease of doing business in 21st century Nigeria, under @MBuhari & @ProfOsinbajo
Bitter? What I've seen is us making fun of our Government/leaders and highlighting the good things Ghana has done to deserve such wins and asking why our Government can't replicate the same things. Where are you seeing this bitterness you talk about please? https://t.co/xpf6ZQt125
— Kelvin Odanz (@MrOdanz) April 13, 2021
The APARTHEID government of NIGERIA has finally done its worst.
— aloy ejimakor (@AloyEjimakor) April 13, 2021
After antagonizing INDIGENOUS Nigerians, it went on to antagonize TWITTER.
So, @jack took Twitter to Ghana and #NigerianYouths lost 1000s jobs.
Advantage #TwitterGhana
Reasons why Twitter chose Ghana as headquarters of its Africa project pic.twitter.com/5VgLoX0yll
— Africa Info 247 (@SmartAtuadi) April 13, 2021
Sucks to be Nigerian right now. The giant of Africa in the mud. Congratulations to Ghana.
— King Toba (@TobatheKing) April 13, 2021
Amazon (South Africa),
— Kelechi Nkoro (@K1Says)
Facebook (Nigeria)
Google (Nigeria, Ghana),
Microsoft (Nigeria, Kenya)
Twitter (Ghana).
Instead of Nigerians to see it as a win for the Continent, we are acting like a Jealous 2nd wife.
????????♂️✌????????????♂️Nigeria is like the dazzling, exciting girl Jack dated. Ghana is the calm, dependable one he married.
— Gesare Chife (@gechife) April 12, 2021
rc%5Etfw">April 12, 2021
So it is a Nigerian office but situated in Ghana. pic.twitter.com/1a4YhesSrE
— Moe (@Mochievous) April 12, 2021
