FG set to lift ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria

The Federal Government has disclosed readiness to lift the ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday, stated that the federal government has gone far on deliberations to restore Twitter operations in Nigeria.

According to Lai Mohammed, “Honestly, we have gone very far. I won’t be specific, but we have gone very far.

“Honestly, it is going to be very soon. Just take my words for that. Even Twitter itself gave a progress report on our talks with them.

“If I want to quote them correctly, they said it has been quite productive and respectful. As to how soon is soon, if the operation has been successful for a hundred days now, we are just talking about a few more days.

“I can assure Nigerians that we are not unmindful of the anxiety and both parties are working very hard to put a closure on the matter.”

The Nigerian government suspended Twitter operations on June 4 after the operators deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for “violation of the company’s abusive behaviour policy”.

The government suspended twitter the next day after. The ban was unpopular and widely condemned by Nigerians and other corporate entities.

There were attempts to undermine the ban by citizens and continue using twitter in the country through the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). This was, however, not popular a few months later.