:: News - Full Story
|
Campaign for Nigeria domain name hots up |
||
| Posted on October 14, 2011 | Back to news home | |
 |
Campaign for Nigeria domain name hots up
The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have called on Nigerian internet users to use Nigerian domain name ‘.ng’ for businesses and other internet activities. This was the outcome of a workshop on “switch to .ng” held in Lagos, as part of national campaign on the need for adoption of Nigeria identity on the internet. According to the communiqué of the workshop, this move was imperative for governments, Ministries, Departments Agencies, professionals, businessmen, institutions, the public and the private sector alike, to stop using the prevailing thirty foreign Top Level domain names such as .co.uk, .com, among others. Participants at the sensitization programme equally agreed that the sensitization exercise must be carried out in the other five geo-political zones across the country and outside Nigeria. The cutting edge Some of the advantages of using Nigeria’s domain will include adequate Security, Branding and geo-targeting of local content, promotion of E-commerce which will lead to Rapid adoption of electronic and mobile payment, Stable and reliable source for foreign currency as well as Security of web transaction through Certificate of Authorization. Similarly, the ‘.ng’ has been described as a national resource that should be promoted by every Nigerian citizen, so that Nigerians would not feel inferior to any other country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) or generic Top Level Domain (gTLD). Once the usage of the domain name has become a household use, there are possibilities for Nigeria to get second level domains of choice in tune with NIRA governing policies. This will also create more Job opportunities for IT professionals in Nigeria Institutional support In order to achieve success in the campaign, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) must ensure that the Corporate Affairs Commission is enlisted in the switchto.ng campaign. The CAC in turn must ensure that the registration of .ng domains forms part of the prerequisites for the registration of a business name or the incorporation of a business in Nigeria. The NIRA, NITDA and the NCC as natural complimentary organizations in the vanguard of lifting the .ng ccTLD must work together. In the final analysis, Government must put in place the following issues for the domain name management and administration: Maintain integrity and credibility of the .gov.ng namespace by avoiding confusion, improve public confidence in government information, promote infrastructure development, deploy central domain name servers, develop a web content policy and guidance, e-mail management system, organize training and workshops as well as maintain a database of .gov.ng. According to the communiqué, Nigeria is not an island onto itself; that is why NITDA is developing the National IT policies to ensure that it complies with internationally recognized conventions and dispute resolution procedures. NIRA Domain Name Policy is available on www.nira.org.ng. However, NIRA does not currently operate internationalized domain names which allow domain names in natural languages. For .gov.ng domain name registration process, a visit to www.registry.gov.ng will take the applicant to series of eligibility tests and domain naming conventions.
Williams
|
|
