JUST IN: Lifting Twitter ban in sight, says FG

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has revealed that the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) would lift the ban on Twitter soon.

Mohammed made the disclosure while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the virtual Federal Executive Council meeting.

Vanguard quoted the minister as saying, “The end for amicable resolution is very much in sight.

“We appreciate the patience of Nigerians. I want to assure you that we have made very tremendous progress. We have met with Twitter both physically and in writing. We are actually almost there.

”The engagement has been extremely positive without any acrimony. We have made it clear what we want from Twitter.”

However, the minister stated that the social media giant has to establish a legal presence in the country and register as a Nigerian company with an address.

Amongst other conditions, Mohammed revealed is that Twitter is expected to have a Country Representative that will serve as a liaison and must register with relevant regulatory agencies including the NCC.

While the government is also proposing an Ombudsman between Twitter and Nigeria, Mohammed revealed that Nigeria is demanding a tax commitment to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.

“They (Twitter) have shown a lot of flexibility, the conversation has not been acrimonious,” Mohammed said.