News Editor
…Says Ban lifting, long overdue
The ban imposed on microblogging platform, twitter in June 2021, has been described as an own goal by the Buhari administration.
Former Director General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA however, said the removal of the embargo was long overdue.
Omeri made this known during an exclusive TMS News interview with Steven Kefas in Abuja on Thursday.
The former NOA Director General described the ban by the federal government as a wrong move because the unbanning did not come with any patriotic lessons for bloggers and users.
“Well, I think it was a wrong move. I still insist that government has the right to take a number of decisions whether they are good or bad. But I think government also has a responsibility to ensure that it takes proper steps to avoid falling into the trap of wrong use of media platforms like it was in the case of the presidency Vs twitter
“I see the banning of twitter as a bad step in the first place because it is a media platform and people misuse several kinds of things including twitter.” He said
Commenting on the reason why the federal government imposed the ban on twitter, Omeri said twitter might have acted in line with her policy by deleting the President’s tweet.
“I think twitter has policies and based on particular policy can delete anybody’s tweet, be it for assaulting or inciting or causing unrest.
“Promoting any views that could create chaos in a country or anywhere else be its from a president or citizen is abhorrent and deserves deterrent treatment as safeguard from the gate keepers or medium owners as the case may be, twitter.
“So if the President’s statement is capable of causing trouble in the land, why keep it just like any other ordinary citizens views? So the President is not above the rules governing the use of twitter nor is he permittedto generate and cause the distribution of views and opinions capable of creating uprising in the land.
“Many world leaders have had their tweets deleted and till date have remained on tweeter suspension”
“So therefore, i don’t think we should equate the President with an all knowing image and capacities or capabilities. If he makes mistakes he should be told otherwise, like I said, if the President is always right, everyone else around him will keep quiet and he will just walk into a pit of fire.” Omeri said.
When asked about his views on the claim by the government that twitter has met all conditions set for lifting the ban, conditions which includes registration with the CAC and the establishment of a physical office in Nigeria, Omeri said he doubt if twitter will meet such conditions considering how they run their business.
“I doubt if twitter will come and register with the CAC as Twitter Nigeria Limited, like other businesses operating in Nigeria would.
“I wouldn’t know what transpired behind the scenes but I don’t think twitter will have to register. This is because they can choose to operate from anywhere remotely.” He said.
Omeri also questioned the ban on twitter which lasted for seven months, saying the government should have acted with more wisdom in handling the issue.
“Instead of banning twitter for such a long time, what we needed to do is to maximise opportunities within that space and it’s importance to our young population who rely on it to earn a living.” He opined.
Omeri said even though twitter and other social media platforms have become a tool young people used to vent frustrations and crack jokes, the importance of the platform can not be overemphasized.
“I don’t want to sound like a joke but the social media, especially Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, among others, have become community theatre where people come to vent their frustrations and to release stress.
“But essentially, there are other very serious uses that these platforms posses within them. So we should encourage young people to learn more on how to use them in a way that it would benefit society instead of outrightly banning it.
“We have to note that, truly, there are digital immigrants and digital natives. This is a season for the digital natives.
“It is the generation of youths who are inventing this medium who are sustaining it with content of various types. So let’s encourage them to be positive, to bring positive contents, to do positive things rather than harassing everybody.” He said.
When asked on whether the ban was lifted for political reasons as speculated by many, the Nasarawa born communication expert said that is immaterial at the moment.
“Well, whether it was lifted for political reasons or not is immaterial for now. What is important is that the ban has been lifted even though it was long overdue.” He said.
He concluded by saying that he doesn’t subscribe to the idea of censoring social media platforms in the country, saying that the government should instead orientate people on how to use the social media for productive ventures.
“I don’t think social media should be censored instead the government through the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should come up with programmes of self censorship to educate the masses on the best way to use these media. It is an NOA duty and government should enable the agency to continue with this initiative which was introduced when I was there. Whichever way you look at it, the advantages of these media outweigh the disadvantages.” Omeri said.
