Nigerians Return Home From Their VPN-enabled Virtual Vacations After Twitter Ban Was Lifted

Remember the Twitter ban that was imposed by our president, General Muhammad Buhari? Well, it was lifted as a belated New Year’s gift to Nigerians seven months later. According to reports, social media giant Twitter has agreed to register in Nigeria and pay local taxes. Last year, President Buhari’s administration suspended the social media firm for deleting a tweet by the commander-in-chief. They accused Twitter of siding with secessionists.

Before ending the ban, the Nigerian government insisted that Twitter:

• Register in Nigeria.

• Appoint a designated country representative

• Comply with tax obligations in Nigeria

• Enrol Nigeria in its portal for direct communications between government officials and Twitter to manage prohibited content that violates Twitter community rules

• Act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws Although Twitter has not commented on what it had to do to regain access into the country, it tweeted that it was “pleased” to be restored in the country and was “deeply committed to Nigeria.”

The social media platform that houses millions of Nigerians has, by and large, yielded to the government’s demands, as claimed by reports.

During the ban, several Nigerians found a way around it using different Virtual Private Network providers commonly known as VPN. This meant that Nigerians tweeting in Nigeria could only do so with the app tunnelling their connection in a disguise that fools the internet to think that one is in another country. Having to not tweet with VPN nowadays must feel strange. Because just days ago when the ban was in effect, you could make occasional visits to the Netherlands. Now you’re back home in Nigeria— country of the year. Thank you, Buhari! Now I have to leave liberal Amsterdam. Nigerians weren’t exactly pleased.