Still on his international media relations jaunt in Washington, Information Minister Lai Mohammed has insisted social media platforms operating in Nigeria can’t help being regulated.
To make his point clear, he explained how the scapegoat Twitter suspended months ago has met seven of the 10 demands the federal government made before the platform will be come back.
“We believe that even the other three outstanding demands, are not really about whether they agreed or not but about timing and scheduling.
“That is what gave me the confidence that we are getting nearer to an agreement,’’ he said during his respective interaction with Reuters, Washington Post and Bloomberg Quicktake, a live streaming news service.
Among the demands Nigeria made on Twitter are: the platform to register as a Nigerian company, pay taxes from revenue made from the country and ensure that harmful contents are regulated.
“We are expecting a reply from them. It is rather, more left with twitter to respond to grey areas that we asked them to look into.
“We are not inflexible in our negotiation with twitter because we recognise both the positive and negative aspects of the social media,’’ he said
The minister also took time to explain what Nigeria looks like without Twitter—that Nigerians now see less of harmful and injurious contents on the social media.
He said, taking cue from the experience with Twitter, all other social media platforms must comply to set down regulations
According to him, the platforms are now more conscious and alert to injurious contents likely to threaten national security.
Mohammed also freshened up the role Twitter played in the ENDSARS protest and other crises, which he insisted occasioned the suspension.
“Its operation was suspended because they were threatening national security, pitching one ethnic group against the other, interfering recklessly in the internal affairs of our country.
“It renders its platform as a platform of choice for those who are preaching separatism and lend their resources to protesters against the police without understanding the nuances of our culture,
“They raised fund to support EndSARS protesters which led to the killing of 57 innocent civilians, 37 police officers, six soldiers in addition to billions of dollars of destruction in property,’’ he said.
But all that will change when it comes back.
“It won’t be business as usual.”