Tag Archives: Nigeria Internet Registration Association

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Nigerian Government Hands .NG Reins to NIRA As Growth Continues

Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has handed over administration of the country’s top-level domain to the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA) as registrations went past 138,000 in April.

NiRA has managed .ng for some years now, with the government overseeing their role. But now the Nigerian government has taken a hands off approach using what is accepted as best practice globally.

“In line with global best practice, where the country top level domain in every country is not directly managed by the government, but by multi-stakeholder bodies’ setup by the government, NITDA has delegated the management responsibilities of the .ng string in Nigeria to NiRA,” NITDA Director General, Mr Isa Pantami, said at the at the recent Presentation of the Reviewed. “The government then plays a supervisory role in the administration of the domains”.

It comes as in recent years NiRA has been implementing growth strategies that are gradually paying off. In April 2019 NiRA held a .ng Resellers Entrepreneurship Programme (REP) that aimed to develop and train entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs in the Domain Name Industry. NIRA has begun an accreditation process that has seen 29 registrars accredited to date, most of whom are Nigerian companies, as a step in improving the registration process with an automation programme in progress. Registrars are categorised into Platinum, Gold, Silver and Standard categories.

There was also a 3-day intensive workshop on Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). There is also the .ng Awards, for which nominations have now closed, that seeks to recognise and acknowledge those who are contributing to the growth of .ng and promotion of the DNS Industry.

The Nigerian government has also been undertaking several initiatives to push government agencies to use the country’s ccTLD so government can be seen to be leading by example. There are currently 2,274 are .gov.ng domain names and 278 .mil.ng.

“This means that 418 new domains were registered between November 2016 and April 2019, which signifies a percentage increase of 18.3%,” according to Pantami. “This can be attributed to the various drives embarked upon by the agency at ensuring the adoption of the .gov.ng and  the .mil.ng.”

“Responses to request is now faster as it takes an average of 2 hours to acquire a .gov.ng or .mil.ng domain. With a 24hrs helpline where their technical team can offer assistance on issues relating to domain name service.”

Total registrations have grown from 101,805 at the end of December 2017 and 131,100 at the end of December 2018 to 138,060 at the end of April.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registry

As .NG Passes 100,000 Registrations, Calls For Nigerians To Use Local Hosting Services

NiRA_NG_logoDomain name registrations for the Nigerian ccTLD passed the 100,000 mark in 2017 with growth consistently over 75% year-on-year. Now the Nigerian registry, NiRA, has its focus on the one million registrations mark.

But despite this consistent growth on the back of promotions being run within Nigeria, the Nigerian government isn’t happy that many registrants are using hosting services outside the country. On 4 December 2017, the Management of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) advised Nigeria’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as private sector organisations on the need for them to patronise Nigerian Data Centres.

The rate of adoption and utilisation of ICT in both the public and private sectors of the economy makes hosting data and information inevitable. The Management of NITDA had noted the current practices of both public and private sector organisations hosting data offshore, despite Nigeria having highly reliable Tier III Data Centres, certified by various international organisations and guaranteeing almost 100% availability as well as multiple layers of security. Members of the public are to note that hosting data locally guarantees reduction in cost and capital flight, digital job creation, increased security, and increase in tax revenues thereby boosting the local economy.

Quoting Section 14.1 of the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT, NITDA pointed out that it is mandatory for Data and Information Management Firms to “host government data locally within the country and shall not for any reason host any government data outside the country without an express approval from NITDA”. The audience was informed that NITDA is working with local data hosting firms to set appropriate service level requirements and standards for data service provisioning. The Office for Nigerian Content Development in ICT (ONC), NITDA’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), has been restructured and charged with the responsibility of developing, promoting and monitoring indigenous ICT adoption and utilisation. In addition, adequate measures have been put in place to facilitate full compliance with these guidelines.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Daily Wrap: M+M Takes Control of .BOSTON, .NG Grows in 2015 and Top December Keywords For .COM and .NET

Minds + Machines logoThe .boston gTLD has changed hands, with Minds + Machines, which currently operates 24 gTLDs that have gone live including .work, .london and .beer, taking a 99 percent interest in Boston TLD Management LLC, the owner of rights to the .boston gTLD, and the agreement of its subsidiary, Minds + Machines Limited, to act as the Registry Service Provider.

Minds + Machines provides backend registry services for an additional four gTLDs including .bayern.

“Over the last five years MMX has worked hard to establish itself as the owner/operator of choice for cities and municipalities on geo TLDs. We intend to continue growing this part of our portfolio as relevant opportunities emerge,” said Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Minds + Machines.

“We look forward to working with BTM, Boston Globe Media, the City of Boston and our distribution partners to ensure the successful launch of .boston later this year, which we believe will become a major digital asset to the City of Boston, its businesses and communities.”

The Nigerian ccTLD is growing, albeit more slowly than most. During 2015 the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) said a total of 22,113 new .ng domains were registered, an increase of 3,240 on 2014 with 14,462 renewed.

Verisign have released the top ten trending keywords in .com and .net for December 2015. For .com the top ten keywords had a heavy Chinese influence. They were clinic, fund, wang, lice, cai, fang, dai, lian, jin and traffic. For .net there was also a Chinese influence, but not as strong. The top ten .net keywords were porn, pure, perfect, parts, stem, zhai, edit, fang, dairy and tshirts.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

NiRA Aiming To Boost .NG Registrations Among Nigerians Giving Away 100,000 Domains

NiRA Proud To Be A Nigerian logoThere is currently a push underway to boost Nigerian’s use of their .ng ccTLD. Currently there are around 60,000 registrations, the Nigerian newspaper This Day reported. This is remarkably low given the country has 174.5 million people.

In a move to help boost registrations, the .ng registry, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has said it will give out 100, 000 free domain names to interested Nigerians in 2014 as part of its plan to celebrate the nation’s 100 years centenary anniversary, This Day reported.

NiRA has set up a working committee to examine ways to boost registrations. The President of NiRA, Mary Uduma, said the initiative was borne out of desire to promote the use of the .ng domain name by Nigerians.

The committee is to pass on its recommendations on boosting registrations to the Ministry of Communications Technology by February

While assessing the adoption of .ng domain name in the country so far, the NiRA President said, “in 2009 we had less than 2,000 domain names but now we have about 60, 000 registered domain names.”

Uduma also “called on registrars to take advantage of the opportunity to offer free domain name hosting which they will give to their registrants,” This Day continued. “This she stressed will open doors of loyalty between them and their registrants.”

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

.NG Booms On Reduced Prices But Still Outrageously Overpriced

NIRA logoRegistrations for Nigeria’s country code top level domain (ccTLD), .NG, have boomed compared to previous registration statistics following a dramatic cutting in the registration fee. But the ccTLD, along with many others, is still saddled with overpriced registration fees.

Today registrations have passed the 30,000 mark, up from around 9000 in 2011 with a reduction in the fees from ₦500,000 ($3170) to “just” ₦15, 000 ($95).

While the reductions are laudable, one has to ask how any TLD can justify such a high price? Especially in a developing country with a population of 174.5 million and a gross domestic product of $2700 (coming 180th out of 229 countries and territories according to the CIA Factbook). This compares to the United States with a GDP of $49,800 and .com domains easily available for $10 to $20.

Speaking at the fifth Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mr. Ope Odusan, the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer, is reported to have said:
“It’s ironical that the foreigners who many often say are not always ready to do business with any business with .ng domain constitute the largest owners of the .ng domain names.”

Odusan is also reported to have said “only 32 .ng domain names were sold in three years, and 30 out of the 32, were bought by foreigners doing business outside Nigeria, while only two were bought by Nigerian residents, THISDAY Newspapers and MTN Nigeria,” according to a This Day report.

Well, it’s hardly surprising. Not many Nigerians would be in a position to afford a .ng domain name and were they intending to, it is much cheaper for them to register a .com domain.

But in part NiRA recognises that the high costs contribute to registrations, with Odusan saying that as part of measures to increase the usage of .ng, NiRA ‘crashed’ the cost according to Nigeria’s National Mirror. But this reduction still makes .ng domains unaffordable to a large proportion of Nigerians.

Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Google And NiRA Aiming For 250,00 Nigerians To Use .NG

Switch to NG logoThe Nigerian government is promoting the .NG ccTLD, encouraging the public and businesses to “switch to .NG.”

The campaign has several aims and objectives, all with the goal of encouraging more registrations of .NG domain names by Nigerians.

The campaign has the support of Google in Nigeria who are helping to promote .NG to small to medium enterprises, and in partnership with Google, MTN Business and Ecobank the campaign aims to get 250,000 public, private and individual entities using .NG domains by 2013.

The goals and objectives of the Switchto.ng campaign are to:

  • educate the public on the existence of .NG
  • provide a forum for government ministries, departments and agencies to understand the policies and procedures for registration of .gov.ng domains
  • give NiRA accredited registrars information to help them promote .NG
  • promote the use of .NG domains across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria
  • provide awareness of cybersecurity and scams.

More information on the Switch To .NG campaign is available from www.switchto.ng.

Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

.NG Targets Half Million Registrations By End 2012 From 42,000 Now

NIRA logoBuilding on its low base of domains under management of 42,000, the Nigerian ccTLD is targeting 500,000 registrations by the end of 2012.

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association has recently improved its infrastructure, Ope Odusan NIRA’s Chief Operating Officer recently said, and the organisation has been collaborating with some national and international organisations to increase .NG’s usage, reports Nigeria’s National Mirror.

To improve local registrations, the president of NIRA, Mary Uduma challenged Odusan and the publicity committee of NIRA to come up with more strategies that will help increase .NG registrations among Nigerians, according to another report in This Day.

NIRA is also targeting direct marketing to corporates and individuals, which according to Odusan, has commenced with some level of achievement.