*The Federal Government finally called off the ban of Twitter after 214 days since it issued the directive.
*Says Twitter has agreed to 5 conditions demanded by the FG
*Statement issued by Chairman of the Technical Committee set up to look into the Nigeria-Twitter relations
*Twitter reacts, says it is pleased to once again be accessible to Nigerians
The announcement of the lifting of the ban placed on Twitter since June 5, 2021 after a total of 214 days came to many Nigerians as a surprise especially as Nigeria prepares to go into an election year and just about a week before the ECOWAS court gives its judgment on the suit filed by a number of Civil society organisations led by Paradigm Initiative.
The lifting was announced in a statement issued by the Chairman of the Technical Committee set up to look into the Nigeria-Twitter engagement and the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
He noted that the approval was granted following a memo addressed to the President by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa All Ibrahim after Twitter agreed to respect Twitter’s laws and President Buhari subsequently gave the approval.
Part of the statement signed by NITDA’s DG reads:
“The federal government directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022.
“You may recall that on 5th June 2021, the FGN suspended the operation of Twitter through an announcement made by the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alh Lai Mohammed.
“Thereafter, the President constituted a seven-man Presidential Committee to engage Twitter Inc. Subsequently, in its wisdom, the Presidential Committee set a member Technical Committee comprising all relevant government The Technical Committee engaged and worked directly with the Twitter team,” Abdulahi explained in the statement.
TwitTer Reacts
Twitter in a statement via its @Policy handle reacted saying, ‘’We are pleased that Twitter has been restored for everyone in Nigeria. Our mission in Nigeria & around the world, is to serve the public conversation.
We are deeply committed to Nigeria, where Twitter is used by people for commerce, cultural engagement, and civic participation.’’
Conditions Agreed To By Twitter
Abdullahi in the statement said the ban was lifted after Twitter agreed to respect Nigeria’s laws with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation had been built.
Also the company agreed to collaborate with the federal government and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries.
Other conditions which Twitter agreed to include committing to set up an establishment in the country in the first quarter of this year.
The company will also register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), being Twitter’s first step in demonstrating its long-term commitment to Nigeria.
Also, Twitter has agreed to appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities as well as complying with applicable tax obligations on its operations under the Nigerian law.
The statement also noted that that Twitter has agreed to enroll Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals, which provides a direct channel for government officials and Twitter staff to manage prohibited content that violates Twitter community rules.
Nigerians React
Meanwhile, reactions has trailed the announcement from the Federal Government.
Gbenga Sesan, PIN’s Director via his Facebook page likened the announcement to that of a thief in the night and but says regardless of what the government’s spin doctors would have Nigerians believe, there are still questions to answer about the disrespect of citizen’s rights.
‘’Like a thief in the night, the Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the lifting of Twitter’s suspension (effective midnight today), a week before the day Ecowas Court set to deliver judgement in the consolidated lawsuit filed by Paradigm Initiative, SERAPNigeria, Media Rights Agenda, EiENigeria and many others.’’
Continuing he said, ‘’Regardless of how the government spin doctors will go to town about how they “dealt with Twitter”, there are still questions that the government must answer about clamping down on the rights of citizens. It’s the way to make sure this (or a worse #DigitalRights violation) doesn’t happen again.’’
Another notable Nigerian, Dr Chinonso Egemba however has a very different view of the entire development as according to him the government unbanned themselves from Twitter and not the other way round.
‘’The Nigerian government banned themselves out of Twitter, not the other way round. Now, active politicking has started and they realized they were without a voice. I hope you’re watching closely.’’
