The announcement by Social media giants Twitter, stating it is officially making Accra the headquarters of its operation in Africa, has stirred diverse reactions all over social media.
As part of its plan to fully enter into the African Tech Space, Twitter through its CEO, Jack Dorsey on Monday stated that it would be making Ghana’s capital its HQ.
The announcement was very pleasant news to many Ghanaians with President Nana Akufo-Addo calling it “EXCELLENT news”.
He further stated that both the “government and Ghanaians welcome very much the announcement and the confidence reposed in the country.
“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,” the president’s statement partly read on Twitter.
While the people of Ghana were celebrating the new development which many believe will help the nation’s economy by creating more jobs and opportunities for young people, there were some who weren’t so pleased.
Many Nigerians specifically were not really happy that Twitter Chose Ghana, Snubbing Nigeria despite being the most active Twitter users behind Egypt in Africa. The move came as a surprise for many.
In 2019, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey visited some Nigerian tech founders and President Muhammadu Buhari, resulting in high expectations that the social media giant could situate its African office in Nigeria when it also considers a number of Twitter users within the country.
In Africa, only Egypt leads Nigeria on the most active Twitter users by country according to a 2016 research by Portland Communications, while Ghana is the fifth based on geolocated tweets.
Egypt and Nigeria account for 500 million and 360 million geolocated tweets out of Africa compared to Ghana’s 70 million geolocated tweets which is below that of South Africa and Kenya.