The Nigerian government declared today through its Ministry of Information and Culture that it has decided to ban Twitter’s operations in the nation. The announcement, which was issued by Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed and signed by his media assistant Segun Adeyemi, may restrict Nigerians from accessing Twitter.
The Federal Government has suspended indefinitely the operations of the microblogging and social networking service Twitter in Nigeria. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
The announcement made today is the culmination of events that have occurred over the last week. After President Buhari blamed a sect named IPOB in the country’s south-east for attacks on government facilities, Twitter removed posts and videos of him threatening to punish them. He then brought up the events of Nigeria’s civil war in the 1960s, which seemed to irritate many Nigerians.