Nigeria is suppose to gain from the internet, but instead, over $6 million (N930 million) is lost yearly for the renewal of domain names that were registered with foreign registrars.
Just when one thinks paying renewal fees to foreign registrars yearly is enough loss, the hosting of such domain names is paid by Nigerians as well, whereas domain names like .ng could easily be registered with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nigeria, and the domain names could also be hosted in Nigeria by Nigerians in order to keep local traffic local.
Nigerians have registered over 600,000 foreign domain names like .net, .com, .org, and .info, with foreign registrars outside Nigeria, and that Nigerians pay between $7 and $10 for yearly renewal, amounting to $6 million, which is the equivalent of N930 million paid to foreign accounts on yearly basis.
This breakdown of self induced lost was revealed by Mr. Ope Odusan, the Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria Registration Association (NIRA).
He went further to express the need for Nigerians having foreign domain names to re-direct them to local domain names like .ng and indulge local ISPs for the registration and hosting of such domain names. With this done, jobs will be created for ISPs and content developers, from this, money will be generated in Nigeria and spent in Nigeria and the country’s economy will definitely be improved.
Considering the enormous loss, Odusan also revealed how the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), the body managing the eXchange Points that carries data traffic from Nigeria to other locations outside Nigeria and vice versa, would be partnering NIRA to host a two-day on Local Internet Content Forum (LICF) to be held next week, with MTN Nigeria as the Platinum sponsor.
Speaking in Lagos recently, Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, said, “this forum would seek to put a stop to capital flight from Nigeria to foreign countries”.
According to him, hosting websites and domain names in foreign countries brings about delay in routing local traffic from Nigeria to a country like America, before returning the traffic back to Nigeria.
When local data is hosted locally, then traffic would be greatly reduced. He also mentioned a certain disadvantage should a violation of agreement occur, the host cannot be sued because the client in Nigeria may not have all the time to pursue litigation case outside the country.
Speaking on local content hosting, Ope said the need for Nigerians to host local content locally cannot be overemphasized, in order to create room for improved creativity in content development.
Mohammed also added that the event would bring together key stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem in Nigeria to dwell on the theme, ‘Sustaining Local Internet Content, the way forward for Nigeria.’
Ope who emphasized on the importance to carry Nigeria’s flag in the cyberspace, through the registration of the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .ng, said NIRA had henceforth reduced the cost of the premium domain name, the .ng to a very low and affordable cost.
Speakers, they revealed, were being carefully selected to share experiences and propose solutions to the ongoing challenges of Internet content generation and hosting in Nigeria, including how to monetise content among others.