Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Aso Rock and Its Gross Misreading of the Landscape

Thanks TF, 'the ground has shifted'. I hope the Federal Government is listening and taking notes. 

SO

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 5, 2021, at 12:16 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:



Regarding the ban on Twitter, the President and his advisers are misreading the landscape:

 

1. The country does not enjoy the support of its youthful diaspora in terms of the older expectations of patriotism. The ground has shifted. I have studied that population, but I have had no time to report my data. A large percentage is angry. The level of anger is high in multiple clusters of study, notably in Little Lagos, Houston. The conversation about Nigeria is pessimistic.
2. Forty-one percent of those who use Twitter to talk about Nigeria are based outside of Nigeria. So that ban means that 41 percent retains its dominance. You only need within the country 10 percent who understand the VPN to undercut the ban.
3. The Internet has collapsed some of those divides. Thinking that it would produce at least a minimal level of understanding, I bought five copies of Nigeria's Digital Diaspora by Farooq A. Kperogi and gave them to the federal govt. I did so as a "patriot", not as a critic. The ground has shifted.
4. The Yaba Valley boys are as savvy as those in San Francisco, Austin, New York, and Boston. Contrary to the condemnatory tone of Nigerian universities, these young boys and girls are so bright that I am always stunned when I speak with them. They have more to give me by way of knowledge than I to give back in return.

Aso Rock, the ground has shifted.

TF

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