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The Nigerian government said it will lift the ban on Twitter in the country only if it has assurance the platform can be used “responsibly”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, at a meeting today in Abuja with the envoys of the US, UK, Canada and the European Union, said the federal government has the responsibility to ensure the security of lives and property.
The federal government suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria last week after it accused the micro blogging site of promoting content that put Nigeria’s corporate existence at risk.
This was days after the social media platform deleted a ‘civil war’ tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a joint statement last week, the envoys condemned the ban warning it erases citizens’ right to information and free expression.
Onyeama gave no definite date for lifting the ban but said government was committed to citizens’ rights.
He said: “We are not saying that Twitter is threatening the country or any such thing. We have taken this measure to stop them to be used as platforms for destabilisation and facilitation of criminality or encouragement of criminalities.”.
