By John Ikani
Twitter on Monday said its talks with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to address the lingering statement over the restoration of its services in Nigeria have been respectful and productive.
The update comes 100 days after Twitter was banned in Nigeria for deleting a tweet by President Buhari.
In that tweet, the President had threatened to deal with those causing trouble in the country using “the language they understand,” referencing the experience of the 1967-1970 civil war where millions of Nigerians got killed.
On August 11, 2021, the Presidency through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was close to an agreement with Twitter and would soon lift the ban.
Providing updates on ongoing talks, a Twitter spokesperson told Peoples Gazette on Monday that: “Discussions with the Nigerian government have been respectful and productive – we look forward to seeing the service restored very soon.
“We continue to engage with the Nigerian government to discuss why Twitter has been blocked and ways to resolve the matter. We are committed to charting a path forward to the restoration of Twitter for everyone in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, many youths have taken to social media to express their anger as the ban on Twitter hit 100 days on Monday.
We bring you some of their reactions below:
Princess Jentle Ngodoo: Honestly this country don tire me, how can a person be this heartless? He hasn’t done the important things for the country to be better, his problem is Twitter. Nigeria as a country is failing (tears).
Chikadibia Osuji: You guys need to understand that many Nigerian youths live and survive on Twitter. They use Twitter as their business platform, and in return pays tax to the Federal Government through FIRS. So when Twitter was short down, a lot of these Nigerians definitely went out of business, and couldn’t pay tax from that platform anymore. In return, money was lost.
Adie Samuel Eneji: The government doesn’t care. The president of a country shut down a social media platform because he perceived that his ego was bruised. Just like that! They can’t do anything to help the economy, the only thing they know to do is to destroy the economy. How much is naira to a dollar now? Go back and read what happens to the economy in 1985, history is repeating itself here.
Alexbianga Kalu: There’s no democracy in the government of Mr. Presidency. Autocracy is his nickname.
Adebisi Samuel: Twitter was banned because of ordinary Muhammadu Buhari
Everest Evera Nnamdi: This is what happens when you have Efulefu in power. He derives pleasure from seeing Nigerians suffer for nothing.
Sooko Yago: Clueless government and cabinet. I won’t blame them since we have allowed the old to rule over the young. If not, how would someone like Lai Mohammed who doesn’t know anything about social networking be coming out to defend their stupidity of banning Twitter.
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