Nigeria: .ng domain registrations hit 100,000
The adoption and use of the Country Code Top Level Domain name (ccTLD), Nigeria’s .ng, has seen a significant rise in the country with registrations for the service hitting 100, 000. The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) revealed these numbers as they made a courtesy visit to Rutam House, headquarters of The Guardian newspaper, on 12 October 2017, according to a report by The Guardian NG.
NiRa believes that the steady increase in the adoption of .ng domains points towards the increasing trend of a gradual decline in the patronage of foreign domain names by individuals and businesses in Nigeria. This goes against what had become the norm over the years and had subsequently resulted in an increased capital flight from the economy, something which has been a focus of the The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).
The NiRA team, led by President Sunday Folayan, revealed to those in attendance at Rutam House that Nigeria’s .ng domain name is ranked as the second largest after South Africa, which has about one million registered .za domains in Africa.
According to Folayan, the new data showed an improvement in the number of domain registrations, stressing that Nigerians have re-strategised in their plans for promoting their online business and hence there is an improvement in the domain name count, according to a report by the Telecompaper.
Speaking more on the .ng adoption, Head, Business Development, NiRA, Mrs. Kemi Adepoju, said the association is doing everything possible to further populate its use in Nigeria, which includes promotions; use of youths as ambassador; to identify and convince companies not using the domain name to adopt it; use of the social media platforms to passage messages and enlighten the public.
The Chief Operating Officer of NiRA, Mrs. Edith Udeagwu, revealed that there are several issues that border on Internet Protocol (IP) development, especially migration from IPv4 to IPv6 which will be discussed at this year’s African Network Information Center (AFRINIC) open public policy meetings from November 27 to December 4th 2017 in Lagos. At the meetings, experts will discuss what Nigeria and other African countries must do to migrate as fast as possible to avoid Internet blackout.
Giving more insight on the dangers of not migrating, Head, Technical Department at NiRA, Abubakar Muhammed, said that Nigerians must do everything possible to avoid Internet shutdown, saying that the consequences are dire.
Muhammed said the AFRINIC conference will be opening another vista in Internet development across the world, “so Nigeria must not be left behind in adoption.”
By Dean Workman
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