President Buhari lists conditions for lifting Twitter ban in Nigeria

During the Independence day speech on the October 1 by the Nigerian President, his excellency Muhammadu Buhari listed conditions for lifting Twitter ban.

The social media giant was suspended indefinitely in Nigeria in June 2021 by the government citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.

In the President’s speech, he stated that he recognised that social media was a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information. However, he acknowledged that recent events have shown that the platform was not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination but it was being used as a platform by some to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.

He added that the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria to allow the Government put measures in place to address these challenges.

The Federal Government thereafter 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.

The President said 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.”

In August 2021, the Information Minister stated that the government was in talks with the social media company and that the ban would be lifted in a matter of days.

It would seem that the talks have not moved any further as it is still the same situation today.

Though it is not clear when these issues would be sorted out and the Twitter ban lifted, one expects that it should be done quickly as it has negatively affected many sectors of the economy.