By Dipo Olowookere
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the conditional lifting of the ban placed on Twitter, a micro-blogging platform, on June 4, 2021, by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed.
In his nationwide broadcast on Friday on October 1 to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day, Mr Buhari said the embargo can be removed on the condition that Twitter adheres to some rules, including allowing citizens to use the platform purely for “business and positive engagements.”
On June 4, Mr Mohammed announced the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria after the platform deleted a post of Mr Buhari believed to go against the rules of Twitter.
The Minister had claimed that the decision to suspend Twitter was because of the persistent use of the platform for activities that were capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
Two weeks ago, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, Mr Mohammed informed newsmen that the ban would be lifted in the coming days, saying both the federal government and Twitter have made a lot of progress in their ongoing dialogue.
“I think even Twitter itself two days ago gave what I will call a progress report on our talks with them, and I think if I want to quote them rightly `it has been productive and quite respectful’.
“And as to the qualifying word for when or how soon, I want to assure you that the time that Twitter operation has been suspended, (I meant) between the time it has been suspended, and when it will be restored is by far, much, much shorter.
“That I can assure you, that it is by far in other words, if the operation has been suspended for about 100 days now, I can tell that we’re just actually talking about a few, just a few more days now,” the Information Minister had said.
At his broadcast today, Mr Buhari stated that, “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.”
According to the President, the key issues his administration discussed with Twitter were national security and cohesion; registration, physical presence and representation; fair taxation; dispute resolution; and local content.
Since the Twitter ban became effective on June 5, 2021, some Nigerians have been using various Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access the bird app despite a threat by the government to prosecute anyone still using Twitter in the country.
As at the time of filing this report, Twitter was still not accessible without the VPN
