Nigeria’s minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed has reiterated that the government’s suspension of Twitter should elicit commendations from Nigerians and not otherwise.
Lai made the remark while speaking on Radio Nigeria’s program called ‘Politics Nationwide’.
“When I released the statement on Friday the 4th of June, I was very unambiguous, I said the operation of Twitter is suspended indefinitely because the platform has consistently and persistently offered itself to promote activities which are inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
“I went further to say that Henceforth all OTT and other social media platforms in the country will have to register as Nigerian companies and then be licensed by the Broadcasting Commission. This is a global practice.
“Over time, Twitter has became the platform of choice for a particular separatist leader to direct its members to kill Nigerian soldiers, kill Nigerian policemen, burn down Electoral Commission offices and destroy all the symbols of a country’s sovereignty.
“Every attempt to persuade Twitter to deny this platform to this separatist leader proved abortive. And for any country worth its salt, security and national sovereignty will come before any other consideration.
“We believe it’s because a country exists, that’s why you can exercise your freedoms. Whether freedom of speech or freedom of expression. It’s because a country exists and is in peace and is stable that you can make money”.
He continued that “I went further to say that henceforth all OTT and other social media platforms must register in Nigeria because they make a lot of money from our country, they pay no taxes and we believe it is only right. In other parts of the world, they register they pay taxes.
“I do not see how we have offended anybody. Any patriot should commend the moves of the FG in respect of these measures.
“I know people have come to say this move is to stiffen press freedom. I say No, there are very few countries in the world today that have a freer media than we have in Nigeria. And that’s a fact.
“About a month ago, I revealed over 476 online publications devoted to attacking and badmouthing this administration, we have not clamped down on any of them.
“For Nigerian who want to express themselves, they have Facebook, WhatsApp, google hangouts, they have other applications.
“Really, this is about National Security and Sovereignty,” he said.
