Nigeria halted Twitter operations in last June after the social media giant deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, provoking an international outcry over freedom of expression in the country.
Twitter was accessible in Nigeria once again on Thursday after the government lifted the seven-month ban.
The ban shocked many in Nigeria, where Twitter has had a major role in political discourse and small scale businesses.
In Africa’s largest economy, three quarters of the population of 200 million are younger than 24 — a generation that is also hyper-connected to social media.
“As far as I am concerned, people that were doing their businesses on Twitter, lots of people lost their businesses. Did the government apologize for whatever they have done? No. So it changes nothing” stressed Daniel Olatunde, Twitter user.
“There is nothing to celebrate about this for the fact that they can go to the extent of violating the fundamental human rights of Nigerians by trying to cage them from expressing their opinions and views about social matters shows that this government is not a popular government, and they don’t have the interest of the masses at heart “ added Adah Obaje Musa, businessman.
The government and Twitter had been in negotiations over restoring the service based on a set of conditions, including Twitter registering its operations in Nigeria.
About 40 million people or around 20 percent of Nigeria’s population have a Twitter account, according to local researchers, where many used the platform for business.
