The Nigerian government has restated that very soon it will lift the ban on microblogging giant Twitter.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed made the disclosure while answering questions from State House Correspondents at the end of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed disclosed that a lot of progress has been made in the ongoing dialogue with Twitter.
He said: “I think even Twitter itself two days ago gave what I will call a progress report on our talks with them, and I think if I want to quote them rightly, it has been productive and quite respectful.
“And as to the qualifying word for when or how soon, I want to assure you that the time that Twitter operation has been suspended, between the time it has been suspended, and when it will be restored is by far, much, much shorter.
“That I can assure you that it is by far in other words, if the operation has been suspended for about 100 days now, I can tell that we’re just actually talking about a few, just a few more days now.”
The Information Minister stressed that both parties are focused on reaching a conclusion on the matter.
“What we’re trying to do is the changes that have been going on, but we need to dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the ‘t’s’, but I can assure us that we’re not unmindful of the anxiety of Nigerians and both parties are working very hard to put a closure on the matter.
“And like Twitter itself said the changes have been very, very productive on both parties. It has not been advisory at all. And it’s quite respectful. Thank you very much,” he said.
When pressed further to be specific, Lai Mohammed simply said:
“Honestly, we have gone very far, I won’t be specific but we have gone very far, and honestly, it’s just going to be very, very soon, just take my word for that. Honestly, I can’t be more specific than what I’ve told you that it is going to be very soon. Thank you.”
Nnenna.O
