Twitter Will Start Working In Nigeria From Midnight As Govt Lifts Ban

The Nigerian Government has officially lifted the suspension of microblogging platform, Twitter and it’s operations in Nigeria. This was made after an approval by the country’s President, Muhammadu Buhari.

The government delegation made the announcement through the Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE.

Kashifu, in a statement in the country’s seat of power, Abuja, announced that the approval was given in the wake of a memo written to the President by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

In his words:

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022.

“The approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

“In the Memo, the Minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.”

TechBooky recalls that the Nigerian President on the anniversary of the independence day celebration ordered the conditional lifting of the ban as he said the platform has met majority of his demands.

The Nigerian Government also in November announced the creation of a code of conduct for Twitter and social media platforms in the country.

In the words of Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment:
“The Federal Government is very anxious, not only Twitter. In fact, but we have also developed a code of conduct for all of them”.

“They have agreed to a code of conduct, that is Twitter and every other platform because we are using the example of Twitter to draw code of conduct for all other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all of them” .

“We decided at the committee level that we don’t want to isolate Twitter and give them some kind of bias treatment different from other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and all of that. So, we are developing a code of conduct not for Twitter alone but for the general social media platforms on the responsible social behaviour that they must comply with”.
“Code of conduct can be made as bye law under the NBC code because that is broadcast” he said.

The Nigerian government had halted the operations of Twitter in the West African country on June 4 2021, with the government premising its decision on the activities of the platform that it says sought ‘to undermine the corporate existence of the country.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed had hinged the government decision on Twitter bias and encouragement to those who sought to put the country in flames, a reference to the tweets of separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu being allowed to hold sway on the platform. 

The Nigerian authorities has officially lifted the suspension of microblogging platform, Twitter and it’s operations in Nigeria.

This was made after an approval by the country’s President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.

The government delegation made the announcement through the Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE.

Kashifu, in a statement in the country’s seat of power, Abuja, announced that the approval was given in the wake of a memo written to the President by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

In his words:

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022.

“The approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

“In the Memo, the Minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.”

Techbooky recalls that the Nigerian President on the anniversary of the independence day celebration ordered the conditional lifting of the ban as he said the platform has met majority of his demands.

The Nigerian Government also in November announced the creation of a code of conduct for Twitter and social media platforms in the country.

In the words of Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labor and Employment:
“The Federal Government is very anxious, not only Twitter. In fact, but we have also developed a code of conduct for all of them”.

“They have agreed to a code of conduct, that is Twitter and every other platform because we are using the example of Twitter to draw code of conduct for all other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all of them” .

“We decided at the committee level that we don’t want to isolate Twitter and give them some kind of bias treatment different from other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and all of that. So, we are developing a code of conduct not for Twitter alone but for the general social media platforms on the responsible social behaviour that they must comply with”.
“Code of conduct can be made as bye law under the NBC code because that is broadcast” he said.

The Nigerian government had halted the operations of Twitter in the West African country on June 4 2021, with the government premising its decision on the activities of the platform that it says sought ‘to undermine the corporate existence of the country.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed had hinged the government decision on Twitter bias and encouragement to those who sought to put the country in flames, a reference to the tweets of separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu being allowed to hold sway on the platform.