Emma Okonji
There are indications that Nigeria will surpass the 100,000 mark domain name registration between October and November this year, following the month-on-month increase in the .ng domain name registration across the country.
As at June this year, Nigeria recorded 90,696 .ng domain name registrations, but the recent figures released by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the body responsible for the country’s domain name registration and control, shows that Nigeria recorded additional 4,363 registrations in July, while the renewal for the same month was 2,143.
According to NiRA President, Revd Sunday Folayan, the domain count for the Nigerian Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), had continued to make impressive gains, month-on-month.
“Going by the impressive monthly increase, which we can attribute to the increase in the number of accredited registrars, coupled with the preparations on ground to host the AfriNIC-27 meeting in November 2017, we are optimistic that between October and November this year, Nigeria will surpass the 100,000 mark registration.
“We are also convinced that the various workshops and conferences held within and outside the country, designed to push the .ng adoption, will also help to surpass the 100,000 mark,” Folayan said.
The .ng domain count continues to make impressive gains on monthly basis and it is heart-warming that the number of domains in the registry continues to grow in excess of 2,000 domains monthly. This is due to the hard work of the Registrars and the Resellers, in making sure that .ng continues to be the domain of choice for all Nigerians, Folayan added.
“At the current growth rate, the number of active .ng domains will surpass the 100,000 mark between October and November 2017. It is a milestone that we will celebrate, and is worthy of being celebrated.
“We need to get many more people on board, but some Nigerians still live in denial. They claim that the Nigerian string is too long, and sometimes expensive, but this is not true.
Government and Nigerian businesses should be proud to fly our identity, the .ng domain name,” Folayan advised.
According to him, part of the planned agenda for AFRINIC-27 is to call on the international community to increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the internet in developing countries. There will also be a strong call for the implementation of IPv6 in Africa.
In technical parlance, domain name which could be ccTLD or generic top level domain (gTLD) is the identity of individuals and organisations in cyberspace. For anyone to have access to internet activities privately, the individual must register with a domain name that represents a country. For instance, Nigeria’s domain name in cyberspace has the suffix .ng, Canada is .ca, South Africa is .za, United Kingdom is .co.uk, among others.
