Emma Okonji
Over the past year, Nigeria has continued to experience a decline in its active .ng domain name, which is Nigeria’s identity in cyberspace.
Recent statistics on .ng domain names, released by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the body responsible for managing Nigeria’s national top-level domain (ccTLD), showed a further decline in registration, renewal and restoration of .ng domain names in the second quarter of 2022.
According to statistics obtained by THISDAY from the NiRA website, the total number of active .ng domain names increased from 178,739 in March 2022 to 177,453 in April 2022.
According to figures released by NiRA, the total number of active domain names in the country increased from 180,763 domains in March 2021 to 178,739 domains in March 2022, with a new depth to 177,453 in April 2022, which is the latest NIRA report on .ng domain name.
Analyzing the figures for domain name registration, renewal and restoration, NiRA Chairman Mr. Mohammed Rudman told THISDAY that the decline in the active number of third level domain names is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said could not allow most of the organizations that had until then purchased the third-level domain name to make effective use of it.
“In 2020, we saw an increase in the number of registrations for country code top level domain names (ccTLDs) but in 2021, the number of registrations dropped due to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 The problem is that everyone who registered in 2020 could not use the domain name during that same year 2020 because of the pandemic and as such they did not renew their registration in 2021 and new registration also dropped in 2021 for ccTLDs,” Rudman said.
Giving more details on .ng domain name registration and renewal at NIRA’s 14th Annual General Meeting held recently in Lagos, Rudman said new registrars were being accredited and that the association would continue to recognize the efforts of all of its accredited registrars, and their resellers, for the success of NiRA. The President added that NiRA has worked with key stakeholders, including government institutions such as the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), to ensure better brand awareness, adoption and support for the .ng domain name.
According to Rudman, “Following NITDA’s drive to compel the adoption of Nigeria’s country code top-level domain name, particularly among Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), an enforcement committee of 14 people was inaugurated to properly oversee its implementation”.
NITDA had said that in line with the country’s digital economy policy, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the National Second-Level Domain Policy on February 16, 2022, making it mandatory for all websites belonging to government and official electronic correspondence of all government personnel to comply. Highlighting the agency’s role, Rudman said it was mandated by the NITDA Enabling Act of 2007, to manage and administer Nigeria’s ccTLD (.ng), which gives NITDA the authority to to allocate and administer the Nigerian government second level domains on .gov .ng; .edu.ng; .mil.ng; .sch.ng and any other second level domain names that may be approved in the future.
“The new policy is expected to significantly boost public confidence in the authenticity and security of information and other services accessed from government-owned websites. By recording the level of compliance with the new policy by state and federal departments and agencies, 99% of federal MDAs transitioned to the .ng domain and maintained compliance with Nigeria’s ccTLD program. This is not the same at the state and local government levels, where 80% of government websites and email addresses lack .ng validation. The implication of this non-compliance by state MDAs and private companies hampers the identity, security and global recognition of the Nigerian government on the internet,” Rudman said.