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The Nigerian government has said that suspended micro blogging site Twitter has acceded to 7 out of the 10 demands put forward to it by the Nigerian authorities in a bid to resolve and reverse the suspension place on its operation in the country.
This was disclosed by the country’s Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday in Washington DC during his annual international media engagement, particularly when answering questions from News wire giants Reuters.
The Nigerian government has demanded that Twitter must pay tax to operate in Nigeria, register with relevant agencies of government that register businesses, ensure harmful contents that can affect national security and unity are carefully detected and fairly treated among others.
Alhaji Mohammed said the demands put forward to Twitter during negotiations were in the interest of both parties because the company’s breach was a threat to national unity and security.
“The company took sides and lends their platform to separatists groups, violent agitators as well as mobilizing resources for same purpose.”
After series of engagements, the Nigerian government said there is flexibility from both sides and there is optimism that the issue will eventually be sorted in the best interest of all parties and may resumes before the end of the year 2021. “It is not in the interest of any of the parties that the platform was shut down.”
The Minister it is not in the character of Nigeria to slam a ban on any entity but the Twitters case became necessary due to the issues of national unity and security which can affect the fabric of the country’s existence.
He said even though the country was planning a policy on social media regulation, it has nothing to do with repression. He said Nigeria is one of the countries with utmost level of press freedom.
Other appeals
Also speaking on insecurity and health, the Minister appealed to the international community to assist Nigeria and other developing countries with resources to tackle the menace of terrorism.
He said the case of the taking over of Afghanistan by the Talibans has shown that Terrorism is a global phenomenon that if left unchecked in one part will certainly affect the other part.
On health and the Covid-19 pandemic, he also said the developed countries should assist the developing countries with their extra vaccines because just as terrorism, if Covid ravages one art of the world it has tendency of spread fast to the others so long as people travel.
Lateefah Ibrahim
