 |
| Nigerian internet users seems to have had it better than others in 12 African countries who have had their internet connections disrupted before and after elections |
Africa has lost about US$237
million dollars due to internet disruptions since 2015, a report by the
Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern
Africa (CIPESA) disclosed.
Media
report continues:
The
report, released on Friday at the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2017 in
Johannesburg, said there was a total of 236 days of internet shutdown in
sub-Saharan Africa since 2015.
“Internet
disruptions, however short-lived, undermine economic growth, disrupt the
delivery of critical services, erode business confidence, and raise a country’s
risk profile. African governments should desist from ordering shutdowns,” it
said.
About
12 African countries have disrupted internet connection before and after
elections including Uganda, Congo, Chad, Gabon, Niger, and Gambia where
internet connection was blocked during their elections last year.
Other
countries also disrupted the internet during anti-government protests and a
typical case is Togo where bandwidth was reduced to disrupt online activities
of opposition protesters.
The
report said Ethiopia alone had lost more than US$120m by disrupting internet
services during anti-government protests. Ethiopia’s 36 days of national and
regional internet shutdowns since 2015 had cost the country US$123 million, the
report quantified.
This
was done during national examination and the Oromia protests.
The report added that Cameroon’s 93-day shutdown in Anglophone regions cost the country about US$38 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment