Friday, October 1, 2021

General Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, has today announced the lifting on the nation’s Twitter ban with conditions for the micro-blogging site to follow. Twitter’s operations in Nigeria were banned in June 2021.

In a speech today marking the 61st anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence Day, President Buhari announced the lifting of the Twitter ban with conditions, stating “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.”

Buhari also claimed “some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.” Buhari set up a presidential committee to look into the issues around the Twitter ban, saying today that “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 stated further 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 to 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.”

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