Emma Okonji
Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the .ng Internet domain name registry, which maintains the database of names registered on the country code top level domain .ng (ccTLD), recently met with the registrars of the name. of .ng domain in Lagos.
At the meeting, which was attended by media, NiRA tasked registrars with innovative solutions to increase adoption of .ng domain names across Nigeria.
In his opening remarks, NiRA President Muhammed Rudman thanked registrars for their efforts in supporting the growth of .ng domain names in Nigeria. He noted that the growth of the .ng domain name can be attributed to the continued efforts of the NiRA board and staff as well as the discounts offered during the .ng promotion.
He added that the fall in the value of the Naira made it clear that this is a flight of capital to register non .ng domain names.
Providing an update on the second .ng promotion, NiRA Vice President Toba Obaniyi said .ng domains have been sold to registrants at a reduced price, in order to make domain names more accessible to as many people as possible. .
He said that although there has been an increase in registrations, compared to previous months, the expected number of registrations has not been met.
Obaniyi said that in addition to the price reduction, NiRA introduced a reimbursement of 50 percent of registrar marketing costs for the period of the promotion.
He informed the assembly that 31 registrars have expressed interest in the promotion and that in two months there has been a noticeable increase in the number of registrations.
Obaniyi also said there was a need for a few registrars that still had to adjust their prices to do so and that registrars needed to be more involved to ensure the prosperity of the sector.
Aransiola Damilola, head of growth at WhoGoHost, advised that the promotion should be postponed until the beginning of the year rather than towards the end, when organizations are already shutting down for the year.
Feedback from the registrar community indicated that it would be great if .ng matched the price of the .com domain to improve adoption.
NiRA program officer Ike Ezeji, who spoke about the training offered for NiRA accredited registrars in 2022, said the training would include: Linux, networking, DNS security, digital marketing, marketing efficient sales and service delivery
The forum resolved, among other things, to involve more stakeholders in the application of the price reduction. NiRA is also expected to campaign for the mandatory adoption of .gov.ng by government agencies, which is in line with the provisions of the federal government policy statement.
As one of the recommendations for creating awareness around .ng, registrars advised extending the campaigns to schools.
Former NiRA Chairman Reverend Sunday Folayan said, “One thing we should not ignore is that there are government policies that are totally weighing on the uptake of .ng.” He gave an example of the government’s ban on Twitter as a risk factor. He therefore proposed the need for a change in negative outlook and mentality.
In response to this, Rudman said that NiRA cannot predict government policies but can continue to show the industry in a good light, all the while focusing on getting people to accept and stick to the .ng domain.
Comments are closed.