#TwitterBan to be lifted soon; offices to be open in Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government has revealed that it is making progress in its negotiations with microblogging site Twitter and the suspension on the platform will soon be over. 

This was disclosed by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed while briefing journalists after the virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the First Lady’s Conference room, Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

He said, “the end for amicable resolution is very much in sight. We have agreed on some areas. Hopefully, in the next few days or weeks we will conclude.

“We appreciate the patience of Nigerians. I want to assure you that we have made very tremendous progress. We have met with Twitter both physically and in writing. We are actually almost there.

“The engagement has been extremely positive without any acrimony. We have made it clear what we want from Twitter.”

He added that Twitter has “shown a lot of flexibility, the conversation has not been acrimonious.”

Twitter has also agreed to set up an office in Nigeria, Mohammed said, adding that the company however maintained that the earliest it can achieve that is in 2022.

Recall that the Nigerian government on Friday, June 5 announced the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria. 

Following the ban, government officials and government agencies stopped their patronage of the micro-blogging platform. 

Nigerians have however continued to access the social media network through the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN).