Federal Government has disclosed that the operational conditions it sets for Twitter are going to include Facebook, WhatsApp, and other similar social media platforms. The Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the disclosure while holding a meeting with his counterpart, Dr. Amir Talaat, Minister of Information Technology of Cairo, Egypt. The meeting was on the sideline of a bilateral discussion with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to fashion out how Nigeria will support and expand its creative industry.
NAN reports that the Nigerian Minister was in the company of some private sector stakeholders who are prime movers of the Digital Change over, to Afreximbank to assist them on how to source funds to put in place the private sector financial driven project.
Mr. Mohammed during the meeting revealed that Nigeria was amending its National Broadcasting Act and codes to ensure all online platforms operating in the country queue behind the laid down conditions.
The Minister disclosed the decision followed the outcome of the face-off Nigeria and Twitter Tech giant had in recent time that led to the operational conditions given to the platform.
He said, “The beauty of the engagement with Twitter is immense.
Mr. Mohammed explained “Whatever applies to Twitter will apply to all other social media platforms, be it, WhatsApp, Facebook or any other.
“That is why we will be having a retreat to amend the NBC Act and the NBC Code to incorporate these new gains we made with the engagement with Twitter,’’
He revealed that Twitter in its agreement promised to appoint a country representative within the first month of lifting the ban and to also engage with the government directly with its management team.
He added, the blogger giant also agreed to meet all the regulatory demands, including the Company and Allied Matter Act (CAMA), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), and the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
The Minister further stated that “Twitter has agreed to comply to all payable taxes as they are operating under the Nigerian laws and this they agreed to do within one week of restoring their operations.
Not only that, but he said Twitter has also agreed to enroll Nigerians in its law enforcement portals and partner's support portal.
Mohammed explained that it will work in such a way that “The law enforcement portal will provide dedicated channels for the Nigerian laws enforcement agencies to escalate reports on contents that violate the code of conduct or the national laws.
“Similarly, the partner support portal provides a direct channel for government to engage twitter staff to manage prohibited contents,”
The Minister informed his counterpart that contrary to the insinuation in some quarters, Twitter was not suspended because they wrote something against the personality of the president.
He said it was suspended because Twitter was becoming much involved in Nigerian internal affairs, with much support to those who were determined to destabilize the country.
Mohammed explained that part of what Twitter was promoting was; “We met with a barrage of knocks, we were accused of running an authoritarian government, trying to infringe on freedom of the press, violating the constitution but we were sure in our mind of what we were doing.
“We were glad that after seven months of serious engagement with Twitter, we can say that what we achieved is what the suspension of the operations of Twitter was all about,”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian minister in his remark had a similar challenge in his country concerning information dissemination and policies of the government.
He said he was a victim of fake news at one point and the outcome was devastating.
He said to combat the menace of fake news; a department had to be established in his prime Minister’s office that was responsible on an hourly basis for what kind of fake news was being brewed.
Afterward, the government would give the correct version of the report as a counter-narrative.
