Over 72 hours after the Federal Government revealed the lifting of the restriction on Twitter, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is yet to tweet.

A number of media aides of the President have resumed utilizing the platform given that the ban was lifted last Thursday, other than the President himself and the Vice President, who just retweeted updates about Saturday’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day from handles of the Nigerian Army and that of the Government of Nigeria.

In the early hours of January 13, 2021, the program formally lifted the seven-month restriction on Twitter. According to a statement signed by the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency and Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, Kashifu Abdullahi, hours earlier, the U.S. company had accepted meet all the conditions set by the government.

It checked out in part, “The Federal Government of Nigeria directs me to inform the general public that President Muhammadu Buhari has actually authorized the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria reliable from 12 am this evening, January 13, 2022.

“The approval was offered following a memo composed to the President by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami.”

The Microblogging platform was suspended in Nigeria on June 5, 2021, 2 days after it deleted a tweet by the President. Telecommunication companies had obstructed access to Twitter after getting an instruction from the Nigerian Communications Commission to that effect.

The Federal Government likewise accused Twitter of double standards and enhancing the voice of secessionists in the nation. In a declaration at the time, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, pointed out “the persistent usage of the platform for activities that are capable of weakening Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Considering that June, the Federal Government and Twitter representatives have actually been negotiating over several important issues, consisting of Twitter’s registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission and opening a physical workplace in Nigeria.

Two months previously, on April 12, 2021, Twitter revealed that it was opening its very first African workplace in Ghana. The Company stated its decision is based upon Ghana’s AfCFTA negotiations, web access, online and offline complimentary speech policy.

“As a champ for democracy, Ghana is an advocate of complimentary speech, online liberty, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is likewise a supporter.

“Furthermore, Ghana’s current visit to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area lines up with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to enhance and tailor our service throughout Africa,” it said.

On October 1, 2021, in his Independence day speech, Buhari said that he had actually directed the restriction of Twitter’s operations in the country be raised, but only if particular conditions detailed by his regime were fulfilled.

The President stated the Federal Government made the decision after Twitter connected to the government to resolve the impasse.

When the federal government finally lifted the restriction last Thursday, a number of media aides of the President resumed using the platform, except the President and the Vice President, who only retweeted updates about Saturday’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day from other government deals with.

ToriNG