President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the constitution of a Federal Government’s committee to engage with Twitter over the indifinite suspension of the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in Nigeria.
The Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this disclosure in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the Minister, the microblogging site has written to the Federal government on how to resolve the suspension.
In the statement, the Federal Government said the team will be chaired by the Minister of Information and Culture. Others in the committee include; the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Works and Housing, Raji Fashola; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo; as well as other relevant government agencies.
Recall The New Diplomat had reported that the government announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria, following the deletion of Buhari’s tweet wherein he threatened to deal with secessionist agitators “in the language they understand”.
According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the suspension was hinged on “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.