Twitter to set up Nigeria office in 2022, ban to be lifted soon – FG

The Federal Government has said the social networking site, Twitter, has agreed to set of Nigerian office in 2022.

It added that the over two-month ban on the social networking site will soon be lifted as it had reached an agreement with Twitter in most areas of misunderstanding.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Wednesday while answering questions from State House correspondents after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

RIt would be recalled that on June 5, 2021, the Federal Government banned Twitter after it deleted tweets made by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), warning the Indigenous People of Biafra that they “will be treated in the language they understand.”

The government had interpreted the action as discourteous, accusing the social media platform of allowing misinformation and fake news.

Mohammed on Wednesday said, “I want to say that the end for an amicable solution is very much in sight.

“We quite appreciate the anxiety of Nigerians, I just want to assure you that we have made tremendous progress.

“As a matter of fact, is to the credit of Twitter that they admitted that they’ve never received any kind of informed or detailed communication from any country as they have received from us. Not only did they promise that they were going to look into it, but we made very clear what we wanted from Twitter.”

“One of the conditions that we set was that Twitter, in line with Nigeria’s Companies and Allied Matters Act, should establish a presence in Nigeria with registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“We also asked that Twitter shall be mandated to employ a designated country representative. We also asked Twitter to register with relevant regulatory authorities like NIPDA, like NCC, broadcasting commission.”

The minister added that the Federal Government also asked Twitter to commit itself to working with the Federal Inland Revenue Service saying, “If you make money from Nigeria, you pay taxes according to Nigeria laws.”

Mohammed said on the issue of a Nigeria-based office, Twitter agreed, but maintained that the “earliest it can establish that is 2022.

We have that everything will be ironed out with Twitter within a few days or weeks.”

He said the FG’s committee negotiating with Twitter would meet on the agreement soon to make recommendations.