60,000 domain names exist in the country –NiRA

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association has said it currently boasts 60,000 domain names registered in the country compared to about 2,000 domains it inherited at its inception.

The body is the leading Country Code Top Level domain name registry in West Africa

NiRA’s President, Rev. Sunday Folayan, stated this during a press conference to announce its 10th anniversary celebration.

He, however, said there were 59,847 domains in the .ng domain of which 25 per cent were reserved for obvious reasons.

“Today, we have 56 accredited registrars who do the registration, while NiRA runs the registry. Seventy-nine per cent of the registrars are Nigerians with others from the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, among others, on domains by level.

“Sixty-three per cent representing 4,400 of the registered domains are on second level; 77 per cent representing 10,000 of them are on third level, while others are on the fourth level,” the NiRA President said.

Folayan added that most domains were on third level, which negates the notion that it was expensive to obtain .ng domain name; among other statistics he reeled out to buttress NiRA’s achievements in the past decade.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of NiRA, ChinmaOnyekwere, said that the association was proud to celebrate a decade of managing Nigeria’s critical national resource and identity flagship on the Internet – the .ng name string.

He said that NiRA had kept faith as the registry for .ng Internet domain names, “and maintains the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain.”

“At NiRA, we are passionate about local content development and we believe that great ideas begin with a simple inspiration and thereafter become stories that entertain, educate and capture the imagination of the audience.

“With our passion in mind, we launched the NiRA .ngselfie and animation competitions to create compelling local contents that inspire. We encourage Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunities offered by these competitions,” Onyekwere said.

He added that the domain names industry was a revenue generator with abundant business opportunities, and urged Nigerians to join in the noble act of promoting the country’s businesses, culture, heritage and economy online.

PUNCH.