The Nigerian government has lifted the Twitter Ban after six months of been enforced in the country.
The approval for its lifting was given following a memo issued to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. ISA Ali Ibrahim.
The announcement to the lifting was announced on Wednesday by the Chairman Technical Committee, Nigeria-Twitter Engagement and Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
Abdullahi via a statement in Abuja, said that the approval was given after a memo written to the President by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am, 13th January 2022”, Abdullahi said.
“The approval was given following a memo written to the President by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim”, he added.
He also added that the minister requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.
Recalling that Twitter – the microblogging was banned in Nigeria, June 4th, 2021 under the Buhari’s administration and that decision by the President had prompted condemnations, within and outside the country.
Some countries, groups and prominent individuals have described the ban as a gross violation of human rights – expressing their dismay in the rights to speech and expression.
Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians filed a lawsuit, challenging the government of Buhari over the indefinite suspension of microblogging platform, Twitter.
