By Rotimi Ijikanmi
The Federal Government has blamed the media and some unpatriotic Nigerians for the choice of Ghana over Nigeria for the citing of Twitter continental headquarters.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in an interview on Thursday in Abuja said the development would serve as a lesson for Nigerians the country to be patriotic in managing the image of the country
Mohammed said Nigeria with about 25 million twitter users against Ghana’s eight million users, it was a natural expectation that Nigeria would have been the choice by Twitter to locate its headquarters for the continent.
“The reasons cited by Twitter for citing the headquarters in Accra, Ghana is that Accra is a champion of democracy and there is rule of law in the country, among other reasons
“This is what you get when you de-market your country.
“The media is more to blame for this which most times exaggerate the challenges in the country.
“At no time was this worse than during the EndSARS protest when Nigerian journalists both traditional and new media were trying to outdo themselves in painting Nigeria as a hell where nobody should live.
“When they all conspired to vilify not just the government but the people of Nigeria,’’ he said.
The minister said he was pleased with the U.S. report which vindicated the Nigerian government that no single live was lost at the Lekki Toll Gate as opposed to what the majority of the media reported.
“We are not saying that you should not criticise the country but be fair and patriotic.
“When you destroy your own house, where are you going to live?
“You can imagine the kind of job opportunities that citing that headquarters in Nigeria would have generated, the kind of visibility it would have given Nigeria but we destroyed it,’’ he said.
Mohammed said “it is what the insiders say about their country that the outsider will use to judge and condemn the country’’.
He said the development would serve as a lesson for people to be patriotic and manage the image of the country better.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the U.S. -based social media company, Twitter on Monday announced Accra, Ghana as its choice for the location of its headquarters for Africa.
Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey had made the announcement via his twitter handle. (NAN)
•PHOTO: Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed
