The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Friday condemned the US and UK governments, as well as the European Union (EU) on their stand over the recent ban on Twitter by the Nigerian government.
Envoys of the US, UK, and EU had told the Nigerian government to reverse the ban on the operations of Twitter, saying it is an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the citizens.
However, Lai who spoke in an interview on the NTA programme, ‘Good Morning Nigeria’, noted that the US, UK and EU have no genuine interest in the welfare of Nigeria as a country, but are only after the economic interests of their own nation.
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Slamming them as hypocrites, Mohammed wondered how the EU and UK, who were already working on regulating social media in their countries can accuse the Nigerian government of suppressing free speech.
The Minister stressed that Twitter has never been fair it’s dealings for allowing IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu to describe Nigeria as a ‘zoo’ on its platform without consequence, despite complaints from the government to take them down..
He said, “The EU has recommended the same thing and Britain only on Wednesday spoke about a law that would regulate the social media. This is why I say they are being hypocritical. Like I said, I don’t like commenting on issues that have to do with relations with Nigeria and other countries but clearly speaking, they are being less than honest.”
“We have seen so many foreign missions come up to condemn the action of Nigeria. Nigerians, please, make a distinction between countries that are trying to protect their economic and commercial interests from those countries that genuinely love you and talking about freedom of speech and don’t forget for one minute that it is because there is a country called Nigeria that there is freedom of speech.”
Mr Lai added that the federal government didn’t suspend Twitter operations in Nigeria for deleting a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, explaining that the nation is not losing revenue due to the Twitter ban because the platform doesn’t pay taxes to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the mictoblogging platform has informed the Nigerian government of its readiness to begin negotiation with following the suspension.
“Today marks one week since Twitter was blocked in Nigeria. We have informed the Nigerian government that we are ready to meet for an open discussion to address mutual concerns and see the service restored. We remain advocates for the free and #OpenInternet everywhere. #KeepitOn,” Twitter tweeted on Friday.
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