For six consecutive months from June 2022 to November 2022, the Nigerian .ng domain name active users have continued to increase, a development that underscores the rising awareness among Nigerians, about the need to populate the .ng domain name, which is Nigeria's identity in cyberspace.
According to the latest statistics released by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the body responsible for managing Nigeria's country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), the total number of .ng domain name registration, increased from 181,275 in September 2022 to 183,169 in November 2022.
The latest statistics, which THISDAY obtained from the official website if NiRA, however shows a paltry registration figure, compared to the over 154 million active Nigerian internet users, many of whom operate online business.
According to the statistics, the total registration, renewal and restoration of .ng domain name was 181,275 in September 2022, but the figure increased in October to reach 181,983, with a further increase to 183,169 in November 2022.
The increase in figure came from the active 2nd level domain name users, which rose from 75,875 in September to 78,704 in October, before rising again to 81,607 in November 2022.
From the statistics, fresh registration of .ng domain name in September was 6,781, renewal was 4,837, while restoration was 153. In October, fresh registration of .ng domain name was 6,388, renewal was 4,773, while restoration dropped to 95. In November, fresh registration of .ng domain name was 6,177, renewal was 4,861, while restoration was 101.
The ccTLD .ng domain name is Nigeria's identity in cyberspace, which has the .ng at the suffix of every official email address that originates from Nigeria. In the United Kingdom, all official email addresses end with .co.uk, in United States of America, they end with .com, while in South Africa, official email addresses end with .co.za.
In Nigeria, NiRA has carried out several campaigns to sensitise Nigerians on the need to populate .ng domain name.
Reacting to the increased number of active .ng domain name users in the months of September, October and November 2022, the President of NiRA, Mr. Mohammed Rudman, told THISDAY that Nigerians were beginning to understand the need to identify with .ng domain name for every online transaction and communication.
In his new year 2023 message to Nigerians, Rudman said: "We have explored new collaborations, strengthened the relationships, with our esteemed Registrars and seen the resultant improvement in the perception of .ng in the market measured by an increase in its adoption. We are very excited about what 2023 has in store for us, having seen the impact of our activities in 2022 on the growth of the .ng domain. Our core operational objective remains to promote the stability, security, and reliability of the .ng domain name. To achieve this, we keep abreast of the latest developments in the global domain name ecosystem by engaging with stakeholders from various sectors across Africa and the world. The onus lies on us to continuously improve on our results and surpass our own expectations."
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According to Rudman, "It feels good to look back at what we have achieved in disseminating information about the growth of .ng domains and providing insight as to the impact of our work on the nation at large. The overall thrust of our efforts has been to increase the adoption of .ng domain names. Without a doubt, we still have a lot to do this year, but we are closer to the achievement of our strategic goals than we have ever been."
