Information and culture minister Lai Mohammed says Twitter executives have acceded to seven of the 10 demands put forward to lift the suspension of the microblogging site.
Mohammed disclosed this in Washington DC during his ongoing engagement with various global media outlets, global think tanks and influencers.
“We believe that even the other three outstanding demands are not really about whether they agreed or not but about timing and scheduling.
“That is what gave me the confidence that we are getting nearer to an agreement,’’ he said.
The minister said that among the demands made from Twitter was for the platform to register as a Nigerian company, pay taxes from revenue made from the country and ensure that harmful contents are regulated.
“As recently as last week, we exchange correspondence with Twitter, and when I left home a few days ago, we are expecting a reply from them.
“It is rather, more left with Twitter to respond to grey areas that we asked them to look into.
“We are not inflexible in our negotiation with Twitter because we recognise both the positive and negative aspects of social media,’’ he said.
Mohammed said the claim that Twitter operation was suspended because it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet was a mischievous interpretation not grounded in facts.
“Twitter operation was suspended because they were threatening national security, pitching one ethnic group against the other, interfering recklessly in the internal affairs of our country.
“It renders its platform as a platform of choice for those who are preaching separatism and lend their resources to protesters against the police without understanding the nuances of our culture,
“They raised fund to support EndSARS protesters which led to the killing of 57 innocent civilians, 37 police officers, six soldiers in addition to billions of dollars of destruction in property,’’ he said.
