By JACOB KUBEKA, Abuja –
The Federal Government of Nigerian may have finally resolved the issues it has had with American microblogging and social networking platform, Twitter since May 2021.
A source very knowledgeable about the development intimated NATIONAL ACCORD at the weekend that the resolution of the misunderstanding followed the agreement by Twitter to open an office in Nigeria and to be paying taxes to the Nigerian government.
These were the two demands that the Federal Government of Nigeria had made after it announced an indefinite ban on the operations of Twitter.
According to the source, the Federal Government, in return, may forgive the microblogging platform and its co-founder/CEO, Jack Patrick Dorsey, who were alleged by the government to have participated in the infamous #EndSARS protests that rocked the nation last year.
It was also learnt that an announcement to this effect may be made by the Federal Government before or shortly after the expected visit of United States Secretary of State, Anthony J. Blinken in Nigeria next week.
The suspension of Twitter’s operations in Nigeria may not, however, feature in the discussions between Blinken and the Nigerian government officials, although there were hints that the United States was planning to designate Nigeria as strategic partner and may pledge nothing less than $2billion to help it overcome certain challenges.
The Nigerian government had on June 5, 2021, placed an official ban on the use of Twitter in the country, accusing the owners of persistently using the platform to promote “activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
This was in addition to the official anger that greeted the decision by the owners of Twitter to delete tweets made by President Muhammadu Buhari concerning the growing agitations by the people of South-East.
It was not, however, clear at the time of this report, whether part of the agreement between the Federal Government and Twitter involves President Buhari unbanning Twitter operations in Nigeria.
NATIONAL ACCORD recalls that the Ambassadors of the United States and other European countries had recently made representations on behalf of Twitter over its suspension in Nigeria.
Indeed, Nigeria, with over 40 million Twitter subscribers, is the highest subscriber to the American microblogging platform. This is even as Twitter does not have an office in Nigeria – but in Ghana.
As learnt, the Twitter owners had, in the course of discussions with Nigerian government officials, suggested that Nigeria should send her citizens to work with its Ghanaian office.
Besides arguing that Nigeria only has jurisdiction over her territory, the Nigerian officials were also said to have sought to know who would pay the salaries and allowances of such staff if they were to be working in Accra or elsewhere.
According to another source, it was after this argument that Twitter reviewed its position and finally agreed to open an office in Nigeria and pay its due taxes to Nigeria as it is done in many other countries, including the United States.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information & Culture, Lai Mohammed, could not be reached at the time of this report for his comments on the resolution of the misunderstanding between the Federal Government and Twitter.
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