The House of Representatives Committee on Information on Wednesday threw its support behind the Buhari regime’s ban on Twitter, saying regulation of social media should have been applied way before the current saga.

The committee said other considerations become inferior when national interest and security is involved.

The committee, which was mandated to investigate the federal government’s ban of Twitter operations in Nigeria, heard information minister Lai Mohammed in session on Tuesday.

The minister insisted, during the appearance, that the federal government’s ban on Twitter’s operations was in the country’s interest.

He cited various sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which he claimed backed the action of the government.

Representative Shaba Ibrahim (PDP-Kogi), a member of the committee, said that anything would pale into insignificance where national interest and security were at stake.

He said that the minister did a good rendition of the legal framework that supported the steps taken, adding that allowing such infractions by Twitter to go unchecked, until the President’s tweet was taken down, amounted to a disservice to the country.

Another committee member, Fatuhu Mohammed (APC-Katsina), called for the regulation of social media because the time had come for the country to face up to the real issues confronting it.

He added that if the Minister had not banned Twitter, with the permission of Mr Buhari, the kind of insults to the sovereignty of Nigeria, coming from its users, was worrisome.

Similarly, Representative Chinedu Ogah (APC-Ebonyi), also a member of the committee, stated that if the law regulating social media had been implemented, the activities of the micro-blogging site would have been checked.

“For example, in China, social media is being regulated and such a thing is not in Nigeria, and we have all those agencies that are capable of the regulation in the country,” he said.

Mr Mohammed said Abuja had begun talks with the micro-blogging site to resolve the matter, adding, however, that until then, the platform remained banned.

On June 4, the federal government placed a ban on the operations of Twitter, on the grounds that the social media platform was being used as a tool for destabilising the country.

(NAN)