Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, on the independence day celebration of Negeria on October 1, has announced that, the ban placed on microblogging site, Twitter, in June 2021 be lifted, if the micro blogging media platform meets conditions listed by the Nigerian Government.
In his national National Address on Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary on Friday, President Buhari noted that, following the suspension of Twitter operations in the country, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Government to resolve the impasse.
Owing to the step taken by Twitter Inc., the President stated that he constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue, noting that the Committee, along with its Technical Team, engaged with Twitter and has addressed a number of key issues.
These issues, according to the President are: National Security and Cohesion, Registration, Physical presence and Representation, Fair Taxation, Dispute Resolution, and Local Content.
President Buhari stated that, following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed. As such, he has “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.“
Speaking further, the President underscored the importance and usefulness of social media. However, he registered his displeasure and regretted that some users have abused the platform to achieve their criminal agenda.
“Social media is 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, recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination. Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.
“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.”
Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari assured all tech companies of his support and charged them to improve the lives of Nigerians and also urged the digital companies to respect Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“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.”
Muhammadu Buhari
It can be recalled that, the government suspended Twitter on June 5, 2021 after the social media network deleted a controversial tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, threatening to punish regional secessionists. Meanwhile, Nigerian officials denied that the ban was in retaliation for deleting the President’s tweet.
The decision drew widespread criticism from Nigerians, activists and the international community as a clampdown on freedom of expression. Since that decision by the government, many mocked the Buhari’s government that, ironically, the government announced the ban on its Twitter page. It got to a breaking point when Nigeria’s Attorney General initially said those who breached the Twitter ban should be prosecuted, but thanks to the West African Court, that was not enforced. A West African court ruled on June 22, 2021, that Nigerian authorities could not prosecute people for using the service, while it considered a suit seeking to overturn the ban.
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