Twitter ban: Reps plead for more time for peaceful resolution

The House of Representatives on Thursday pleaded for more time for the Federal Government and Twitter to continue with the ongoing dialogue for a peaceful resolution of contending issues surrounding the ban on Twitter.

The House in addition also urged the Federal Government to be proactive in its interface with Twitter so as to come up with a timely resolution on the matter.

These were parts of the recommendations of the Committees on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values, Telecommunications, Information and Technology, Justice, and National Security and Intelligence on the Federal Government’s suspension of the operations of the social media network considered by the House at the plenary session.

The House advised that the Federal Government should take into cognisance the negative effect of the Twitter suspension on Nigerians who depend on the platform for their livelihood.

The House however rejected an amendment to this resolution by a member Toby Okechuwku seeking the lifting of the ban following the negative impact of the ban. It was however rejected by members when put to voice vote.

it also urged relevant Government Institutions such as the National Broadcasting Commission, Nigeria Communication Satellite, etc. to be alive to their mandate by doing the needful to avoid future occurrence of this nature.

The House said freedom of expression was not absolute anywhere in the world. 

It said this is because security and freedom of expression sometimes present contending interests, therefore national security must be guaranteed at all times as much as the right to free speech must be protected.

The House was of the opinion that Government should always have communicated better with Nigerians when critical decisions are to be made.

The report was adopted after a heated debate by members of the House.

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