Twitter: Not yet Uhuru for Nigerians, says telecom expert

The immediate past president of Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Olusola Teniola, has called on Nigerians not to celebrate yet over FG’s conditional unbanning of the microblogging social network platform, Twitter.

President Muhammadu Buhari, during the October 1st Independence Day anniversary, on Friday, ordered that the four-month ban on Twitter be lifted with some conditions.

He listed the conditions to include that Twitter must pay attention to national security and cohesion; registration, physical presence and representation in Nigeria; fair taxation; dispute resolution and local content.

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According to Teniola, the lifting of the ban is still predicted on the conditions set by the federal government.

“From the look of things, it is very clear that the government has not exactly lifted the ban. There are certain conditions attached to the lifting of the ban. The real issue is that the Federal Government wants to regulate social media. But what it fails to realise is that the digital world cannot be controlled, because it is a global platform,” he said.

Expatiating, he said, “Methinks the focus on one social media platform is unhealthy and may set a bad precedent for the fate of others which may not help the country’s desire to achieve a digital economy. We expect the free adoption and usage of the platform for citizens to be able to connect to their loved ones, business and Nigerians.

“So if we are consistently left to believe certain social media platforms can be banned at the whims and caprices of the government it may be difficult for us as a country to ensure that the Nigerians can generate the much expected FDI from the digital space. The digital future requires some level of freedom.”

On what to expect from Twitter as an organisation, Teniola said it was within Twitter’s right to accept or do otherwise.

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Meanwhile, a lawyer and social development analyst, Olutunbosun Osifowora, said the listing of conditions for unbanning of Twitter is a subtle way of further eroding the right to freedom of speech which is given without conditions under the present laws.

“What is more annoying is the president restricting the people to how they should use the social media platform. The citizens are at liberty to use the platform without being subjected to unwholesome conditions by the president, who very much does not take kindly to criticism.

The Nigerian government on June 4, 2021 suspended Twitter in Nigeria, after it deleted a tweet by President Buhari. Twitter had accused the President of breaching the site’s rule.