Insight & Analysis - November 29, 2021

Why Nigeria may Soon Lift the Ban on Twitter

The outcome of the meeting held between the federal government of Nigeria and Twitter shows the government will soon lift the ban on Twitter.

November 29, 2021

3 min read

The outcome of the meeting held between the federal government of Nigeria and Twitter shows the government will soon lift the ban on Twitter. Following this report, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo said Twitter accepted all the requirements set forth by the Nigerian government. According to him, the government took this step to recalibrate its relationship with Twitter and not send them out of the country.

According to him, for Nigeria FG to lift the ban on Twitter, they have agreed to pay taxes to the government and open an office in Nigeria. Keyamo said, “It was Twitter, that reached out to the federal government to find out what they can do to straighten the relationship with the federal government and so we have gone far but I may not, at this forum, let out a lot but we give them a lot of conditions and they have agreed to all the conditions”.

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

The government of Nigeria put a ban on Twitter on June 4 2021 following the deletion of a tweet made by the president of Nigeria. In the bid to settle this, the first meeting was held in August and chaired by the minister of information, Lai Mohammad. According to him, the government made ten requests, and Twitter reached only seven. The remaining three are setting up a local office, paying tax locally and the Nigerian government will regulate content and harmful tweets.

According to Nigeria’s President Mohammadu Buhari, “Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed, and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements”. He said the ban will be lifted if Twitter decides to comply with the government’s demand.