The suspension of popular micro blogging platform, Twitter, by the Nigerian government is expected to be removed shortly, as the social media giant is said to have met six conditions put on it. ayokinews.com reports
According to The Nation, the government’s Technical Committee for resolving the standoff between the two parties is fine-tuning the Twitter offerings before making a final recommendation to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Though the President has agreed in principle to resume Twitter’s social networking function in Nigeria, he is awaiting the committee’s findings before lifting the ban imposed on Twitter on June 4, 2021.
The following are some of the terms Twitter agreed to:
- Establish a presence in Nigeria.
- Have a representative present in Nigeria.
- Register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and obtain a license from the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
- Taxation in a fair manner.
- Concerned about national security and unity. It must not jeopardize the country’s security.
- Train Nigerian IT employees and strategic intelligence officers on how to report discovered Twitter abuse and infractions.
According to a source who spoke to the publication;
“From the records, Twitter has finally met six conditions set by the Federal Government for the lifting of the ban on its service in Nigeria as at the close of business in 2021.”
“The operation of Twitter will now be fully regulated, including opening of office and deployment of a Country Representative. We can now hold an officer responsible for any infraction.”
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“Twitter only requested that the Federal Government should allow it to open the office in 2022 because there was no provision for it in its last year’s budget. Since we are in a new year, we are expecting that the office will take off soon.”
“With payment of taxes, we are hopeful that the government will earn enhanced revenue from Twitter. This ban has helped to correct the lapses of the past. For instance, Twitter has been raking huge cash from Nigeria without legal backing and compliance with our revenue laws.”
“Although it was alleged that Nigerians have lost over N6billion to the ban but the Federal Government has lost much more in revenue.”
“In spite of recourse to VPN by some users in Nigeria, Twitter revenue slumped considerably because this alternative does not fetch income to it.”
“Now, the era of impunity is gone. Twitter must register with CAC and operate in Nigeria as a business concern which it is in other parts of the world.”
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