President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday announced he gave a directive for the suspension placed on microblogging site Twitter to be lifted if the platform meets his administration’s conditions.
The president made this known during a broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day anniversary.
He said, “Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the impasse. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue.
“The Committee, along with its Technical Team, has engaged with Twitter and have addressed a number of key issues. These are: National Security and Cohesion; Registration, Physical presence and Representation; Fair Taxation; Dispute Resolution; and Local Content.
“Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements.’’
The Federal Government suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5 following what it described as the platform’s interference in national matters.
On the social welfare programmes of the Federal Government, the president reiterated the commitment of the government of achieving its goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
Buhari also pledged to address the widespread discontent and disillusion about the efficiency and probity of nation’s civil service
He noted that for far too long the nation had neglected the centrality of the civil service as the engine of governance and this had manifested in ineffective service delivery.
“It is for this reason that we are refocusing the Nigerian Civil Service to provide World class service to run our country,’’ he said.
The president also promised to bring more youths into governance to address youth restiveness across the country.
He said the government would also continue to encourage girl-child education, female scholarship schemes, life skills and digital literacy skills to boost girl’s enrolment, retention and completion of schooling.
