Nigerians still shunning .ng amid government’s effort to push it
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigerians remain reluctant to adopt their country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name, .ng, despite effort by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) and Abuja’s directive to its organs to embrace Nigeria’s identity in cyberspace.
Registration for .ng dropped to 179,420 in May 2022, according to NiRA data, a 1 per cent decline against 181,176 in May 2021.
Even though most Nigerian websites prefer foreign domain names, the country’s internet asset managed by NiRA saw a steady growth between 2018 and 2019.
NiRA set a target of one million active web addresses on .ng in five years, starting from 2019. But there are currently fewer than 200 websites registered on .ng.
Why Nigerians shun .ng
.ng is Nigeria’s identity online, like physical naira and dialling code +234
The benefits of registering websites on this domain string include geo-targeting, reduction of capital flight as well as contribution to the economy.
Some web owners premised their choice of domain name on the advice of their web developers who pitch .com because .ng would localise their business.
Besides, the cost of registering on .ng is higher than that of .com domicile in the United States.
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Effort by NiRA
NiRA announced in March a 40 per cent slash in the cost of obtaining .ng which NiRA President Muhammed Rudman hopes would facilitate the growth of a digital economy.
To improve .ng brand awareness, adoption, and support, Rudman disclosed, NiRA has been working with stakeholders including the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
“Following NITDA’s readiness to compel the adoption of Nigeria’s country-code top-level domain name, especially among ministries departments and agencies (MDAs), a 14-man enforcement committee has been inaugurated to properly monitor its implementation,” he said, per Nairametrics.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the National Second-Level Domain Policy on 16 February 2022, making it mandatory for all government websites and official email correspondence of all government personnel to adopt .ng
Rudman said NiRA is mandated by the NITDA Act to manage and administer .ng, which gives NITDA the authority to allocate and administer .gov.ng; .edu.ng; .mil.ng; .sch.ng; and any other second-level domain name approved in the future.
But there has been no increase in registration for .ng
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