7 Months After, FG Lifts Ban On Twitter

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja

Buhari

Seven months after, the federal government has ordered the lifting of ban placed on the micro blogging site, Twitter, in Nigeria on June, 2021.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval to lift the ban was announced by the Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, who is also the Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, he said the approval was endorsed following a memo written to the President by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

He said the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria will take effect from 12am tonight, 13th January, 2022.

According to the memo, "The minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.”

The federal government had suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021 to allow the government put measures in place to address what he described as the misused of the platform.

Also, during the nationwide broadcast to mark Nigeria's 61st independence anniversary last year, President Buhari ordered the conditional lifting of ban placed on the micro blogging site.

The dilemma was however not resolved as Twitter Inc failed to meet some of the stringent conditions.

The President had stated that, "Recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination."

“To address these negative trends, the federal government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021 to allow the government put measures in place to address these challenges."

“ Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the federal government of Nigeria to resolve the impasse. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue."

“The committee, along with its technical team, has engaged with Twitter and have addressed a number of key issues. These are National Security and Cohesion; Registration, Physical presence and Representation; Fair Taxation; Dispute Resolution; and Local Content."

“Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements."

“As a country, we are committed to ensuring that digital companies use their platform to enhance the lives of our citizens, respect Nigeria’s sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety", he added.

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