Minister of Information Lai Mohammed has said that social media giant, Twitter, has agreed to immediately enrol Nigerians in its law enforcement portals.

Lai disclosed this during a radio programme on Saturday February 19. He reiterated that the agreements reached with Twitter will be extended to other social media platforms to ensure only “wholesome contents” are posted.

The Minister said; 

We are going to regulate the social media not because we want to stifle the media or we want to violate the right of expression. We want to ensure that only wholesome contents are available on social media.

“Recently, we were all shocked when an 18-year old boy accused of killing his 21-year old girlfriend for money rituals confessed that he leant the diabolical act on social media. The teenager, in collaboration with his friends, cut off the head of the victim and were burning it in a pot when they were apprehended.

“The government has the responsibility to ensure that social media platforms are responsible and the contents they displayed were not harmful to young people as well as the unity of the country.

“Twitter also agreed to comply with all payable taxes, as they are operating under Nigerian laws and this they agreed to do within one week of restoring their operations. Twitter agreed to immediately work with the federal government in the area of code of conduct that are in line with global best practices

“Twitter agreed to immediately enrol Nigerians in its law enforcement portals and partners support portal. The law enforcement portal will provide dedicated channels for the Nigerian law enforcement agencies to escalate reports on content that violate the code of conduct or national laws.

“Similarly, the partner support portal provides a direct channel for government to engage Twitter staff to manage prohibited contents.”

Lai Mohammed also disclosed that that relevant laws and the broadcasting code would be amended to ensure that the agreements reached with Twitter would be applicable to other social media platforms.