Twitter ban will be lifted if – Buhari

LAGOS, Nigeria – President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he has given the directive to relevant stakeholders to lift the ban on  twitter.  Buhari who gave the hints in his 61^st independent speech said the ban will however be lifted if certain conditions are meant.

According to him, the condition includes 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”, he said.  

He described the Social media as 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 but that 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.

“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”, he said.