After 214 days, President Muhammadu Buhari has lifted the suspension on Twitter operations in the country, with effect from 12 am of January 13, 2022.

The decision was disclosed by the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency and Chairman Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement, Kashifu Abdulla in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

In the statement, Abdulla noted the approval was given following a memo written to Buhari by his Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.

The statement reads,

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) directs me to inform the public that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the lifting of the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12am tonight, 13th January 2022″. The memo, signed by the Minister updated and requested the President’s approval for the lifting based on the Technical Committee Nigeria-Twitter Engagement’s recommendation.

The federal government suspended Twitter last June after the company deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari about punishing regional secessionists. Authorities accused the social media firm of siding with the secessionists.

The government and Twitter have been in negotiations since over restoring the service based on a set of conditions, including Twitter registering operations in Nigeria.