The Nigerian government says it has no plans to ban or suspend the operations of any social media platform in Nigeria.
The authorities revealed this against the backdrop of numerous inquiries in respect of the change of ownership at the micro-blogging site, twitter and also some allegations about the company’s operations in terms of content management.
Nigeria’s information and culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made this known on Thursday in Abuja during the presentation of the Aviation Minister at the 3rd edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s scorecard 2015-2023 series.
“Many of your colleagues have called to ask us what will become of our agreement with Twitter in view of the change in its ownership. Many have asked for our reaction following reports that there has been a spike in fake news, disinformation and hate speech since the micro-blogging site changed ownership. Many have even asked us if another ban is in the offing.
“We are closely monitoring the evolving developments at Twitter. It has never been our intention to ban any social media platform or stifle free speech. Not at all.
What happened in the case of Twitter is well-known to all. Twitter became a platform of choice for those who want to destabilize Nigeria, using fake news, disinformation and hate speech. No nation will allow any social media platform to plunge it into anarchy. Definitely not Nigeria.
But we have continued to engage positively with the different social media platforms, including Facebook, Google (owners of YouTube), and Twitter.” The Minister said
The Minister then concluded that the government has no intention of banning any social media platform again. But we will also not sit by and allow any platform whatsoever to throw our nation into crisis
Olusola Akintonde
