So Twitter has decided to set up its African Headquarters in Ghana. Big deal!
After all Nigeria has a Microsoft Centre, opened in 2019, a Google Developer Space which was opened in 2020 and we are expecting a Google Undersea Cable this year too.
We have huge a Facebook presence in Nigeria, with the company opening its first community hub space in Africa in Lagos in 2018. Facebook itself also confirms that more people use Facebook in Nigeria than anywhere else in Africa and so a full-fledge operational office is opening this year in Nigeria. Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg came here as far back as August 2016 and ate our Amala, Pounded Yam and Jollof Rice. I am sure he can even testify that Nigerian Jollof is better than Ghanaian Jollof. Is their own even called jollof? May be they should call theirs Yellow Rice. Zuckerberg even met with President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and other top government people on a whirlwind visit regarded as the day Silicon Valley came to Nigeria.
Therefore Twitter setting up its first Africa base in Ghana should not be a big deal, right?
Except that Twitter Co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey chose to make a big deal out of it by announcing the move to open the social media platform in Ghana, West Africa, himself. His announcement has therefore generated ferocious debate among Nigerian users of the social media app, and reignited the perennial rivalry between the two countries, almost more than the rivalry over football or Jollof Rice.
Some Nigerians consider Twitter’s decision to open in Ghana as a snub on their country because of the Nigeria’s huge and rapid growth in technology and social media usage. Statistics show that about 40 million Nigerians have Twitter accounts. The full population of Ghana is 32 million, out of which barely eight million are on Twitter! So, where did the Twitter decision come from?
It is obvious that a company like Twitter will only make a decision like this solely based on business and business only, and nothing political.
The statement announcing the move described Ghana as a champion for democracy, “a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet”, while also referring to the location of the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Accra, Ghana as another reason for moving there, saying it aligns with “its ambition to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa.”
Many Nigerians are blaming the decision on the very demanding and unfriendly business climate in their country, with policy government somersaults the order of the day.
The World Bank ranks Ghana 13 places higher than Nigeria in its ease of doing business index and Ghana also ranked as the 43rd most peaceful country in the world, in the 2020 Global Peace Index, placing 104 spots ahead of Nigeria; therefore there is no doubt that these rankings would have formed part of the reasons for Twitter’s decision.
In spite of these disadvantages though, some Nigerians still feel that the fact that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had been on the board of directors of Twitter ought to have counted for something with the Twitter board. Recall that on the 19th of July 2018, Twitter CEO Dorsey had announced the addition of Okonjo-Iweala to Twitter’s Board of Directors as new independent directors.
In a reply tweet, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had said: “Excited to work with @Jack and an incredible team on the Board of Twitter, a global platform that is such a strong connector of people and ideas.”
Her relationship with Twitter did not seem to have swayed the location decision, so the grinding of teeth goes on, especially when Twitter immediately followed up its announcement with advertisements for vacancies for its new Ghana office. Many qualified Nigerians would have of course become employed if the office opened here. And there would have been more associated businesses who would have benefitted from the siting.
Twitter currently employs about 4,900 staff in its various offices and locations worldwide. In its advert for the new office, it announced that it would be recruiting to 11 positions as its first hires on the African continent.
The jobs advertised include positions in engineering, marketing and communications specialists.
In acknowledging the decision to site the office in Ghana, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a tweet that, “The choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is excellent news”, stressing that, “This is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the development of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector.”
The official response from the Nigerian government came from Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed who was quoted by Vanguard newspaper as blaming Nigerians for the decision of Twitter to locate its new African headquarters in Ghana instead of Nigeria. He was of the view that the decision was not based on commercial considerations, in view of the large market available in Nigeria.
The Minister, who was interviewed by the newspaper, condemned the unpatriotic attitude of some Nigerians, especially the media, who he said, had always struggled to outdo one another in painting Nigeria as hell where no one could live.
Alhaji Mohammed said that the natural expectation was that Nigeria should have been the hub of Twitter business in this part of Africa, given the fact that Nigeria had more twitter users than the eight million in Ghana.
“Clearly” he stated, “the decision was not a commercial and business one. But, I think Twitter has the prerogative and exclusive rights to decide where to site its headquarters. I hope this will serve as a lesson to Nigerians”.
Twitter is headquartered in San Francisco, California and it has 32 office locations across 19 countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Australia, India and Brazil. Others are in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Republic of Korea and United Arab Emirates.
And now, Ghana makes it 20.
The cities which host Twitter offices in the US are San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Boulder, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Miami, Florida; New York City; Santa Monica, California; Seattle, Washington; Sunnyvale, California; and Washington, DC.
Other cities across the world are Sydney, Australia; Brussels, Belgium; São Paulo, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Hong Kong; Bengaluru, India; Mumbai, India; Jakarta, Indonesia, Dublin, Ireland; Chuo City, Japan; Osaka, Japan; Ciudad de México, Mexico; Taguig, Philippines; Singapore; Seoul, South Korea; Madrid, Spain; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; London, United Kingdom; Manchester, United Kingdom.
And now, Accra, Ghana!
And so the Jollof and Soccer wars continue. But we should be satisfied with what we have, at least until we make our country a better place for doing business and for living for the people.
IMAGE CREDIT: CNN
