.ng Domain Names Surpass 27,000, NiRA Seeks Support

Statistics released on Wednesday by the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA) revealed that the domain name renewal rate in September 2015 was higher compared to the renewals in other months of the year except in March 2015.

In the report titled, “Domain Name Report – January to September 2015”, NiRA said that the significant increase was with domain name renewals at the third level, while seeking stakeholders support to deepen .ng domain name adoption.

According to Mr. Sunday Folayan, president of NiRA, without the support and efforts of all stakeholders, it will be an uphill task to make .ng popular within and outside the country.

However, in general for September 2015, domain name registration was the lowest in the past four months.

From January to September 2015, NiRA said it recoded a total of 16,191 domain names registered and 11,263 domain names renewed.

“It is worthy to note that from January to September 2015, we have 27,454 domain names, inclusive of new registrations and renewals at both second and third levels,” the Association said in the report.

Similarly, Folayan, NiRA’s president, said, “Our engagement strategy is borne out of the desire to popularize the brand and grow the numbers. The media is very key, as a partner, in promoting the .ng brand. We continue to have interactions and engagements on the social media, print and electronic media, in order to create further visibility of the brand.

This week, I was a guest on the interview segment of TechTrends of ChannelsTV discussing the domain name industry ecosystem. I took time to explain why Nigerians should embrace the .ng brand and register their domain name(s), through NiRA Accredited Registrars.  I elaborated on the benefits of having a .ng domain name, pointing out the competing global brand price of .ng domain name, brand protection, national pride, faster response time and ranking from the search engines.

“We believe that domain names are very similar to real estate. In the coming weeks, .ng will be more visible on the social media and other platforms, as we engage more Nigerians to take advantage and claim their own turf, before other investment savvy individuals do so.

“Have you registered your own .ng domain name? Better late than never, contact a NIRA Accredited Registrar as soon as possible.

He disclosed that as part of NiRA’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes, it has instituted the ‘.ng Best Graduating Student in B.Sc Computer Science’ award in selected Federal Universities.

“One of such awards will be made at the Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State on the occasion of the Maiden Convocation Ceremony of the university. The award is to recognize, honour and encourage graduating students whose academic achievements display the best level of excellence and distinction in Computer Science at the university each year. NiRA aims to be socially responsible in educating the Nigerian public, especially the young public, creating the awareness and promoting the pride in/of the .ng brand,” he said.

The NiRA president added “The knowledge and opportunities available from being part of the .ng ecosystem is eminent. We recognize the employment opportunities especially for the youth, in growing our economy. We need the involvement of our people from a very young age”.