Nigeria Lifts 7 Months Twitter Ban
More than 200 million Nigerians were barred from using the social networking site. Nigeria’s IT development agency stated that the US IT firm has met all of the requirements.
On Wednesday evening, January 13, the Nigerian government lifted the ban on Twitter, effective after midnight. This is coming seven months after authorities had shut the social networking site; now more than 200 million individuals were able to freely reconnect.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria 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,”
– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Nigeria’s director-general of National Information Technology Development Agency said in a tweet
Twitter Public Policy tweeted online on Wednesday expressing satisfactory words on the revoked ban:
Twitter is said to have agreed to major requirements, including opening an office in Nigeria, appointing a local head, and complying with tax duties.
ICYMI Read Also: Twitter Ban: Nigeria Has Lost Nearly N600 Billion in 209 Days
A brief through the reason for the ban
Nigerian officials criticised Twitter for deleting Buhari’s comment while accusing the platform of allowing activities that threatened the country’s existence.
The Federal Government declared the suspension of Twitter earlier this year on June 4th, after the social media platform flagged down a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
In the tweet he threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”. Locals termed it as inciting tribalistic & genocidal memories from the nation’s civil war.
After receiving a mandate from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunication companies restricted access to Twitter nationwide on June 5, 2021.
The block was described as “deeply concerning” by Twitter, which called free and open internet access a “basic right.” In Nigeria, the platform plays a significant role in political debate.
It is estimated that 40 million Nigerians, or 20% of the country’s population, have a Twitter account.
Source: AFP
Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
