The Nigerian government on Thursday lifted the midnight Twitter ban after successful talks between the social media platform and the government.
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said in a statement that President Buhari had given the approval to lift the suspension.
According to Reuters, the Nigerian government suspended Twitter on June 4, 2021, after it removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.
For model Kingsley Osine, the government’s decision to end the restriction gave Nigerians their voices back.
“It didn’t really stop most of us from tweeting, but we were tweeting with fear you know, but now we can tweet freely, we can air our voices freely,” said Osin.
Announcing the end of the seven-month suspension, the government said on Wednesday the U.S. social media giant had agreed to establish a local office among other conditions set by the west African nation.
Twitter said it was pleased with its restoration in Nigeria and was deeply committed to the country.
The Twitter ban, however, hurt some Nigerian businesses as it drew condemnation for its effect on freedom of expression and the ease of doing business in Africa’s most populous nation.
