Social Media plays a very integral role in everyone’s lives nowadays, so as does Twitter. In June 2021, Twitter operations of Nigeria were suspended after a company deleted a comment by Buhari, which caused an international uproar over freedom of expression.
On Wednesday, the government of Nigeria said it terminated its suspension of Twitter after seven months of banning the social media colossus in a conflict over a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Both Twitter and the government have been in negotiations before over restoring the service established on the set of conditions, including Twitter registering its operations in Nigeria.
The country’s information technology development agency said in a statement that ” The Federal Government of Nigeria directs me to announce the people that President Muhammadu Buhari… has endorsed the lifting of the break of Twitter operations in Nigeria effective from 12 am tonight”.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the agency’s Director-General, said that the social media giant had agreed to regulations to restore service. These included setting a legal commodity in Nigeria, assigning a country representative and relenting with tax obligations.
Twitter did not instantly react to a request for comment.
But it has been said the block was profoundly worrying and called unrestricted and open internet access a fundamental right.
The forbidding of
astonished many in Nigeria, as Twitter had a significant position in political address, with the hashtags used #BringBackOurGirls after nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram 2014, and #EndSARS during anti-police cruelty protests in 2020.
Bribable features’
The officials of Nigeria had criticised Twitter for deleting Buhari’s comment while blaming the medium of allowing activities that menaced Nigeria’s existence.
The separatist agitators from the country’s southeast, where a civil war killed one million people five decades ago, referred to social media remarks.
“The direct and hidden cause of the break was the unceasing use of the medium by some crooked components for incendiary intentions and criminal activities, reproducing fake news, and polarising Nigerians,” Abdullahi said.
