Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says negotiations with Twitter – the American social media giant, have been productive and are expected to be concluded soon.
In June, Twitter’s services in Nigeria were suspended by the Nigerian government for its allegedly disruptive activities.
The suspension occurred days after President Muhammadu Buhari’s controversial tweet was removed from his account.
Both parties have since begun negotiations to resolve the dispute, and Mohammed told Bloomberg on an international media tour this week that Twitter is playing by the rules.
Most of the terms and conditions the government set for the company had been met, he said.
Newspapers from Nigeria: https://lagospost.ng/lai-mohammed-twitter-ban-will-be-lifted-soon
He told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, “We’re working on a few more.”
The Minister said the last meeting between both parties took place a week ago, and talks have been ‘quite encouraging.’
The minister maintained that the suspension was not because President Buhari’s tweet was deleted, but because the platform is used to target security agents and promote ethnic interest over the nation’s unity.
“For national security, we suspended the operations,” he said.
Mohamed said something similar last week about the state of negotiations, mentioning that Twitter had agreed to set up an office in Nigeria.
Read Also:https://lagospost.ng/twitter-ban-economic-effect/.
The company denied a deal had been reached in response, saying the two parties are still talking.
Nigerians have been using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass the widely-condemned suspension.
