FG getting close to an agreement with Twitter – Lai Mohammed

The federal government has stated that Twitter has agreed to seven out of the 10 demands it made to lift the suspension on the social media platform in Nigeria.

This was stated by the information minister, Lai Mohammed in Washington DC during his on-going engagement with global media outlets, think-tanks and influencers.

Recall that the government on June 4 announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

The government had said the reason for the suspension was because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

“We believe that even the other three outstanding demands, are not really about whether they agreed or not but about timing and scheduling,” NAN quoted the minister as saying.

“That is what gave me the confidence that we are getting nearer to an agreement.

“As recently as last week, we exchanged correspondence with Twitter, and when I left home a few days ago; we are expecting a reply from them.

“It is left with Twitter to respond to grey areas that we asked them to look into.

“We are not inflexible in our negotiation with Twitter because we recognise both the positive and negative aspects of the social media.”

The minister said, among the demands made to Twitter was for the platform to register as a Nigerian company, pay taxes from revenue made from the country and ensure that harmful contents are regulated.

He said the Twitter ban is effective in the country because less harmful contents have been seen on social media.

According to him, other social media platforms have also been more conscious and alert to injurious contents likely to threaten national security.

The minister added that from the talks with Twitter, when the platform resumes operations in the country it will not be business as usual.