TELL Magazine

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that the ban on Twitter, the micro-social media platform be lifted effective Thursday January 13th. The decision is coming seven months after the ban was imposed in June last year.

Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general of the National Information Technical Development Agency, NITDA announced the decision of the government of Nigeria. According to him, the president took the decision after considering the request of Isa Ibrahim, minister of Communication and digital economy contained in a memo to that effect.

The ban was imposed last year in what was seen as a sharp reaction to the decision of Twitter to take down the account of President Buhari following a tweet concerning the Igbo people of the southeast region of Nigeria. But the government then said the decision to ban Twitter was not informed by the decision of the company to sanction the president. Rather, it said the company by its operation in the country was undermining the interest of Nigeria.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture also said that it was necessary to regulate the operation of Twitter in Nigeria, adding that the company was making so much money in the country without paying tax.

Twitter and officials of the government thereafter went into a long period of negotiation after which Twitter was made to meet some conditions.