By Damola Emmanuel
Millions of users of the micro-blogging search engine, Twitter, in Nigeria can now heave a sigh of relief, as President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, lifted the ban which the Federal Government imposed on it on June 5, this year.
The President announced the lifting of the suspension on the operations of Twitter in his nationwide broadcast commemorating Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary.
But there is a caveat: the resumption of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria is contingent upon its total compliance with all the conditions it agreed with the Federal Government’s technical team during their engagements to resolve the impasse.
“Following the extensive engagements,” President Buhari stated, “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.”
Areas of engagement and agreements reached between the Federal Government’s technical team and Twitter during the negotiations include:
a. National Security and Cohesion;
b. Registration, Physical presence and Representation;
c. Fair Taxation;
d.Dispute Resolution; and
e. Local Content.
And as soon as these issues were complied with, Twitter would be allowed to roll again, the President assured.
Before announcing the relief, Buhari had admitted that “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.”
Additionally, the President also admitted that his administration was aware of the prospects and perils in embracing digital economy. Consequently, the government developed policies “to enable Nigerians to take advantage of the prospects and avoid the perils of digital technologies.”
But he regretted that subsequent events showed 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.
“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:
a. National Security and Cohesion;
b. Registration, Physical presence and Representation;
c. Fair Taxation;
d. Dispute Resolution; and
e. 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.”