The Federal Government has said it is looking forward to applying the same operational conditions imposed on Twitter to Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a meeting with Egypt Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr. Amir Talaat, in Cairo.
The meeting was based on a bilateral discussion with the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on how Nigeria can access funding to support its growing creative industry.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reported that Nigeria’s information minister had led some private sector stakeholders involved in the Digital Switch Over (DSO) to Afreximbank to assist them on how they can source funds to complete the private-sector financial driven project.
NAN reported that the minister while discussing with his Egyptian counterpart said, Nigeria was amending its National Broadcasting Act and Broadcasting Code to ensure that all online platforms operating in the country must comply with stipulated conditions.
According to Lai Mohammed, the decision was borne out of the recent developments on suspending Twitter operations in the country and the agreement reached before the suspension was lifted.
Mohammed said “The beauty of the engagement with Twitter is immense.
“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.”
The minister also said on the agreement reached with Twitter, the microblogging site had agreed to open an office in Nigeria within the first quarter of 2022.
He also said that Twitter had agreed to appoint a designated country representative within one month of lifting its suspension while its global policy team would also be available to engage directly with the government.
He added that Twitter also agreed to meet all regulatory requests, which includes its registration with the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Nigeria Communication Communication Law, Rules, and National Broadcasting Commission Code.
He said “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.
“Twitter agreed to immediately work with the Federal Government in the area of code of conduct which is in line with global best practices
“Twitter agreed to immediately enroll Nigerians in its Law Enforcement portals and Partners Support Portal.
“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.”
Also, Mohammed added that the suspension of the Twitter operation from Nigeria was not because they wrote something about the president as being circulated.
He explained that the operation was suspended because Twitter had become the platform of choice for those who wanted to destabilize and create disunity among Nigerians and hit the government.
In his explanation, the minister said “We met with a barrage of knocks, we were accused of running the 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.”
Responding, the Egyptian minister, Dr. Talaat said his country had similar challenges in the area of dissemination of policies and programs of government.
Dr. Talaat also said he was a recent victim of a fake news report which was very devastating to him, adding that to combat the menace, a department was established in the office of the Prime Minister where they monitor on an hourly basis what kind of fake news is being fabricated.
He further said whenever such fake news surfaces, the government instantly responds by giving a candid viewpoint on the topic being circulated.
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