By Iliya Kure
Nigeria says the operations of Twitter in Nigeria can only be restored when “responsible communication” is assured on the platform.
“When you have the power to communicate, it has to come with responsibilities,” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, told journalists in Abuja, after a meeting with some envoys Monday.
He said, “the condition (for lifting the suspension) would be responsible use of social media and that really has to be it.”
“We are not saying that Twitter is threatening the country or any such thing; why we have taken this measure is to stop them from being used as platforms for destabilisation and facilitation of criminality or encouragement of criminalities.”
He added that this decision was key to maintaining security in the country, because “without security, everything else fails. We will all be losers. What we do today will define the future of the country.”
“Nigerian lives matter and we have to do everything we can to preserve Nigerian lives. And when we feel our goals are threatened, actions need to be taken,” he said.
“It’s to see to what extent this media can be a force of good and not for the facilitation of criminalities or the destabilization of the country. We can disagree, but Nigerians’ lives matter.”
“Differences of opinion is not a problem; everybody will not think alike,” he added. “But we want to use social media for good. There is a lot of good that can come out of communication today. Part of the conversation will be how to use them for global good.”
When asked whether the government is engaging China on firewall for internet in the country, the minister said, “I’m not aware of any meeting with the Chinese authorities in respect of social media.”
Nigeria on Friday suspended operations of Twitter in the country after the social media platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari which twitter said is against its policy of inciting violence.
Digital rights advocates have condemned Nigeria’s action describing it as censorship.
Despite public outcry and condemnations, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, issued a statement that violators of the directive risked being charged to court.
He however could not could not cite which law these alleged defaulters would be breaching.
On Monday Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation issued directive to broadcast stations in the country deactivate and de-install their Twitter handles.
Same day, Minister of Foreign Affairs invited envoys of the U.S., UK, Canada and the European Union to a meeting over a joint statement to condemn the Nigerian government’s crackdown on Twitter.
