ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) – Nigeria’s government said on Wednesday that it has lifted its ban on Twitter, which had been in effect for seven months due to a disagreement over a post by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In June, Nigeria suspended Twitter service after the company erased a statement by Buhari, sparking an international outcry about free expression.

Since then, the government and Twitter have been in talks about reinstating the service under a set of criteria, including Twitter registering its activities in Nigeria.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria orders me to tell the public that President Muhammadu Buhari… has ordered the lifting of the suspension of Twitter activity in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight,” the country’s information technology development agency stated in a statement.

Twitter was still unavailable in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos as of 12:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT), according to an AFP correspondent.

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the agency’s director general, who was also on the team negotiating with Twitter, claimed the social media giant has agreed to requirements to restore service.

Establishing a legal entity in Nigeria, appointing a national representative, and dealing with tax duties were among them.

Twitter did not reply quickly to a request for comment.

However, it has stated that the restriction is extremely concerning and that free and open internet access is a core human right.

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