By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Following approval from President Muhammadu Buhari, and six months after, the Federal Government yesterday lifted the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria.

However, there have been mixed reactions on the lifting with many for or against the decision.

Director-General (DG), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who doubles as the Chairman of Technical Committee on Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, who announced the lifting in a statement in Abuja, said the approval was given following a memo written to the President by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim.

The DG stated: “The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January, 2022.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had announced the indefinite suspension in June, 2021, in a statement in Abuja.

He said the ban was to contain posts capable of undermining Nigeria corporate existence.

Yesterday, Abdullahi said the approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim.

“In the Memo, the Minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.”

The operation of the microblogging platform in Nigeria was suspended on June 4, 2021, two days after a controversial tweet from Buhari was deleted by Twitter for allegedly saying that the Federal Government was going to treat the secessionist Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) “in a language they understand”.

The Federal Government, however, accused Twitter of sponsoring dissent in the country.There have been calls on the federal authorities to restore the operations of the media handle, without success.

Explaining reasons why the government hadn’t lifted the suspension, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, who was one of the cabinet members involved in the dialogue with Twitter, said talks were in progress, with few conditions yet to be met.

Giving explanations, the minister disclosed that Twitter had agreed to all the Nigerian government’s conditions, but singled out “timelines” as the only hiccup.

“It was Twitter, just to put it in context, that reached out to the federal government to say they want to know what they can do to straighten up the relationship with the federal government. And so we’ve gone far. I may not be at this forum, let out a lot, but we give them a lot of conditions (and) they have agreed to all those conditions. What is left now are the timelines to fulfill those conditions.

“Once those timelines come and they fulfill those conditions, Twitter will be back to business in Nigeria. They know exactly what we want. And these are things that are extremely altruistic,” Mr Keyamo said.

He said the social media giant has agreed to pay taxes to the Nigerian government as well as setting up a physical office in Nigeria where users can take their complaints to.

Twitter had earlier stirred a debate in Nigeria when it announced its decision to set up its regional headquarters in Ghana, rather than Nigeria where it enjoys more patronage.

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Conditions for agreement

Free speech, online freedom, and open internet were some of the issues undescoring the Federal Government’s tussle with twitter over the suspension.

“So, they’ve agreed to taxation, they’ve agreed to open an office in Nigeria so that there can be some, you know, face to face complaints so that we don’t have to be going through algorithms to complain about activities of certain persons who use Twitter to subvert the government of the day.

“There are certain lines that people should not cross when sending out messages, or tweeting things that are capable of tearing us apart,” Keyamo said.

The minister added that, ordinarily on their own, “things are not capable of setting this country on fire, you know, but to use those platforms to promote and propagate some of these ideas (is the problem). Keyamo said during the programme.

Keyamo also said that the technical committee set up to interface with Twitter, is currently working on a code of conduct not only to control the mode of engagement on the platform but also on other social media platforms.

In its expectation, Twitter, in October, 2021, said it ‘looked forward’ to having its operations reinstated in the most populous African country following “productive” discussions with the Federal Government.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted an unnamed Twitter spokesperson as saying, “We continue to engage with the Nigerian government and we are committed to charting a path forward to the restoration of Twitter for everyone in Nigeria.

Loss

Nigeria’s economy, according to reports, by December 2021, Nigeria had lost N499.32bn to the shutdown of Twitter since it came into effect on June 4, 2021.

According to the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, Nigeria’s economy loses N104.02m ($250,600) every hour to the ban on Twitter.

But while giving his Independence Day speech last October, President Buhari had hinted that the ban would continue until Twitter registered in Nigeria, had a physical presence, and representation.

A financial planner, Kalu Aja, had been quoted by a daily as saying, “The Twitter ban raises a narrative about doing business in Nigeria, and it’s not a good narrative.

“Specifically, Twitter and social media allow Small and Medium-scale Enterprises and sole proprietors with zero marketing budgets but a smartphone to build and communicate a brand promise.”

Nigerians respond

Following the lifting of the suspension yesterday, some Nigerians immediately responded online to the issue. While some welcome the idea, skeptics fear the government is “only trying to play smart” politically.

An online medium, Daily Post, quoted some comments: @rapizo: “Buhari is trying to play smart, we are in a pre-election year. He is trying to get Nigerians to vote for APC.”

Another, @teribamos: “Our president is trying to bribe Nigerians, why wait till now to lift the Twitter ban in Nigeria? We will not be deceived by this bribe.”

But another respondent @zyinab, noted: “This is a welcome development for Nigerians. The ban became necessary because of those miscreants using the platform to inflame terrorism.”

@chibu_zor wrote: “Lifting ban at this time is good, and God bless this government. Businesses affected can pick up now and we can start earning money on the platform.”

“Thank God that the government lifted the ban. We can now return to factory settings. No more using VPNs that make my phone very hot as if it’s burning. We can also start running our business now was the comment from @fefeyebz