Nigeria’s historic Twitter ban has been lifted, and the people have reacted
Nigeria lifted its historic and controversial Twitter ban on mid-night, January 13, 2022. Business Insider Africa understands that the development followed a number of agreements that were reached between the Nigerian Government and the social media company.
Some parts of a statement that was released on behalf of the Nigerian presidency by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the DG of the West African country’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said:
“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built… Therefore, the (federal government) lifts the suspension of the Twitter operations in Nigeria from midnight of 13th January 2022,”
Among the other agreements reached between both parties is that Twitter will open a Nigerian office. The micro-blogging platform would also work alongside the Nigerian Government “to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries”.
It should be recalled that the Nigerian Twitter ban took effect on June 4th, 2021, after a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed for violating the social media’s rules of use. The tweet in question seemed to have threatened to punish secessionists in the eastern part of the country.
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Meanwhile, most Nigerians have had a lot to say regarding the government’s decision to finally lift the ban. Although many of them were able to access the social media platform during the ban using VPN, they are excited to finally be able to tweet again without any form of restrictions.
Other Nigerians also reacted by chiding the Government for the economic disruptions caused by the Twitter ban. Popular comedian and Nollywood actor, Frank Donga, tweeted:
“My heart and tweet goes out to all the small businesses that lost revenue and opportunities during the #TwitterBan. May you find creative ways to recover speedily. I’ll do my best to help with some free promotions.”
According to NetBlocks estimates, Nigeria lost over $1.2 billion (about N546.5 billion) during the 7-month duration of the Twitter ban.
