Mr Sunday Folayan, President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), says only 80,000 dotng (.ng) domain names have been registered so far in Nigeria.
Folayan announced the figure during the “NIRA 2017 .ng Awards, aimed at celebrating the achievements and innovation of Nigerian internet initiatives on Friday in Lagos.
He said that the uptake and registration of .ng, which is the Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), was low and needed to be embraced by Nigerians.
According to him, South Africa, with a population of 57 million people, has over a million domains registered under .za, as its ccTLD.
“”This abysmal comparison led NIRA to do a deep introspect, where we recognised that education, especially which leads to entrepreneurship and job creation, is the major driver of domain name penetration.
““NIRA has established the `NIRA Academy’, which will soon assume its position as the centre of excellence in Domain Name System (DNS) in Africa.
“”The academy currently operates outside NIRA head office, but we seek a permanent site for the construction of our campus,’’ he said.
Afolayan implored Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State to assist the association with “”generous allocation worthy of a campus for a centre of excellence”.
The president said that in the course of the year, the .ng brand would be visible on social media platforms in order to promote the ccTLD.
According to him, NIRA’s stakeholders have also decided to market the brand via their various advert campaigns and the momentum is building gradually.
“”One feels joyous, riding in the Lagos traffic because one can be sure of sighting .ng domain names on cars and buses as they ply the roads.
““The sight of billboards with .ng domain names, especially in some streets of Nigerian towns, is no longer strange.
“”In spite of those great strides, the awareness bug is yet to bite deeper in states outside Lagos.
“”It is right to flaunt our national identity in cyberspace; it is our own; it is our pride,’’ he said.
The internet service expert said that the NIRA .ng Awards was established in 2016 to recognise and honour the many contributors that were creating awareness in growing the .ng brand.
He said that the awards were to acknowledge those, who were exploring various opportunities in the DNS industry in Nigeria.
According to him, .ng awards is a celebration of excellence, and excellence is of great value to those who work for it.
““We did not attach any monetary value to the award as nominees are not expected to pay any dime to be recognised or nominated.
“”There is no entry barrier; they are not expected to compulsorily advertise in the award brochure, nor to felicitate with NIRA as a sign of endorsement.
“”We intend to keep it so, for a long time to come.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the categories of the awards include: “.ng Company of the Year’’, “Start-up Company of the Year’’, “Best Local Hosting Company’’ and “Best e-Payment Website/Portal’’.
Others are .ng Media Award categories which include, “Best Print Media Website’’, “Best Electronic Media (Television and Radio)’’ and “Best Online Media Website’’, under which NAN was nominated. (NAN)
FON/AIB/