Anthony Iwuoma
The Federal Government, on Thursday, lifted the suspension it imposed on Twitter, the social media platform.
This is coming seven months after suspending the microblogging giant, following a dispute over a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari in June last year.
Twitter had deleted a comment by Buhari, which was considered to be opposed to freedom of expression.
Nigerian government officials had also criticised Twitter for deleting Buhari’s comment and accused the platform of allowing activities that threatened the country’s existence, obviously referring to social media comments by separatist agitators.
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Consequently, there were negotiations between the Nigerian government and Twitter, following a set of conditions Nigeria insisted Twitter must meet before its operations would be restored in the country.
However, Nigeria’s information technology development agency on Wednesday announced in a statement: “The Federal Government of Nigeria directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari… has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight.”
Welcoming the development, Twitter assured the Nigerian government of its commitment of driving civic participation.
“We are pleased that Twitter has been restored for everyone in Nigeria. Our mission in Nigeria and around the world, is to serve the public conversation.
We are deeply committed to Nigeria, where Twitter is used by people for commerce, cultural engagement, and civic participation.
“We’re committed to integrating diverse perspectives that make our service better for everyone,” the social media giant said.
