Nigeria’s President Buhari orders lifting of ban on Twitter

October 1, 2021 Elwin Mandowa

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Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has announced that the ban on social media giant Twitter can now be lifted.

In a speech on Friday to mark Nigeria’s 61st independence day celebration, President Buhari said he had directed that the ban on the operations of Twitter, in Nigeria be lifted conditionally.

That condition includes meeting demands from the Nigerian government related to National Security and Cohesion; Registration, Physical presence and Representation; Fair Taxation; Dispute Resolution; and Local Content.

He said “Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the impasse. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue.

“The Committee, along with its Technical Team, has engaged with Twitter and have addressed a number of key issues. These are National Security and Cohesion; Registration, Physical presence and Representation; Fair Taxation; Dispute Resolution; and Local Content.

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“Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements.”

President Buhari described social media as a very useful platform but said some users have misused the platform to execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.

“Social media is a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information.

However, recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination,” Buhari said.

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The Nigerian government suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021, saying it was to allow it to put measures in place to address some identified challenges.