A senior government official disclosed that the government decided to lift the suspension because Twitter has agreed to terms put in place by the government to ensure the lifting of the ban and continuation of its operation in the West African country.

In a statement issued by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency on Wednesday, the government said Twitter has agreed to pay tax, establish an office in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2022 and also act in a manner that does not demean the government or question the country’s sovereignty.

Abdullahi, who headed the Nigerian team that negotiated with Twitter, said Twitter has also agreed to appoint a “designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities” by 2023 and register with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

According to the statement, The platform is also expected to enroll Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals. The Law Enforcement Portal provides a channel for the law enforcement agencies to submit a report with a legal justification where it suspects that content violates Nigerian Laws.

“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” Abdullahi said.

Many have questioned the motive behind the decision of the government to lift the ban in the build-up to the 2023 election, with some saying the move is to enable the government and the ruling party to campaign and push their narratives, an assertion they claimed was corroborated by the lack of an official statement from Twitter supporting the government reasons on why its lifted the suspension.

Recall that the Nigerian government banned Twitter Operations in June 2021, days after the platform pulled down a ‘genocidal’ tweet from Buhari’s account, a remark the platform said violated its rules.

The development sparked mixed reactions with many saying such action impeded freedom of expression in Africa’s most populous country, while others asserted that it was the right decision to rein in dictatorial and autocratic government officials.

Nigerian officials, however, said the decision to ban the app had nothing to do with the deletion of President Buhari’s tweet, but a conscious effort to curb the dissemination of fake news and activities that undermined the territorial integrity of the country, especially by separatists in the southeast.

Buhari’s government and Twitter have been in talks over a list of conditions for ending the suspension, including discussions on taxes, content, and registering locally in Nigeria.

“The issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted, but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements,” Buhari said in a speech marking Nigeria’s independence day.

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While noting that his decision to resign from Twitter wasn’t an easy one, Dorsey said he was handling it over to Agrawal, who would succeed as the CEO of the micro-blogging site.

“He’s been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs,” Dorsey, 45, wrote, as he endorsed the appointment of Agrawal as his successor.

Get familiar with Parag Agrawal

From 2007 until now, Agrawal served as Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The Indian-born engineer was little known to the public, with even some Twitter insiders saying they were surprised by his appointment. But behind the scenes, he has been a Twitter veteran and confidant of Dorsey.

Agrawal’s relationship with Dorsey has afforded him the opportunity to be involved in many of the company’s biggest strategic initiatives.

Following his appointment as Dorsey’s successor at Twitter, Agrawal becomes the latest India-born executive to take over a major American technology company.

Accepting his new role in Twitter, Agrawal wrote the company’s staff in a mail that read: “I joined this company 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees.

“I’ve walked in your shoes, I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes. But then and now, above all else, I see Twitter’s incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us.”

Born in Mumbai, Agrawal studied computer science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, an elite technical university. In 2005, he moved to the United States and enrolled at Stanford University to pursue a doctorate in computer science. There, he joined a research group focused on databases, which let computers store and mine large amounts of digital information.

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