NiRA Presidential Awards 2016 Updates.
The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) recently held a gala and web awards night organised to recognise all those using the .ng domain names.
The event had two sets of awards; the first was the .ng web awards while the other was the Presidential awards. The .ng web awards recognised companies and institutions that have effectively used the .ng domain over the years and have indirectly helped to promote the Nigerian brand online.
The other set of awards were given by the NiRA President to organisations and individuals that have been committed to the development of the ICT industry in Nigeria. Mary Uduma, erstwhile President of NIRA received the special recognition award for her contributions to the growth of the .ng domain name ecosystem. Another recipient, was Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. (CFA), Presenter, Tech Trends on Channels TV and Founder, Techsmart.ng, who received the NiRA Presidential Award for Youth Development, an award that recognizes and encourages youths with a combination of the best .ng website, best online local content and best use of ICT and finally, Dr. Wunmi Hassan, who was recognised for her role in the advancement of women in technology.
NiRA’s ultimate goal is to get more Nigerians to use the .ng domains because Nigeria currently has less than 100,000 .ng domains while South Africa has over 1 million .co.za domains.
Like the Chairman, Board of Trustees, NiRA rightly pointed out, it is a shame for any Government establishment in Nigeria to still be using any extension other than .ng.
Winners of the .ng competitions preceding the gala and awards night also received gifts from NiRA. This is encouraging as many Nigerian government establishments, business concerns and individuals as possible to embrace the .ng domain name going forward.
Below are pictures from the NiRA Presidential Awards 2016 Event.
Talking about the .NG Domain Name Extension;
If you’re truly a Nigerian, you’ll agree with me that I don’t need to explain what .NG stands for. The acronym, .NG, stands for Nigeria in the The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) registry. .ng is the Nigeria’s Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD). It is the domain extension promoting local business operating in Nigeria and those outside with interest in investing in Nigeria. It was formerly managed by Randy Bush until May 13, 2009, when Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) completed the process of re-delegation of the domain extension from the temporary authorities managing it back to the present body known as NIRA. As at this moment, .ng domains are running on Nigeria DNS which means, your business will easily be found on search engine better than the foreign hosted websites. If you serve local content, you have better chance of being found easily.
To get your .Ng domain, NiRa has made room for this by assigning registrars to fastrack this process. You can find them here. Meanwhile, you can as well go for the second-level .ng domain such as:
- com.ng – open domain, commercial entities and businesses
- org.ng – semi-open domain, non-commercial organizations
- gov.ng – closed domain, governmental organizations
- edu.ng – degree awarding institutions
- net.ng – ISP infrastructure
- sch.ng – Secondary Schools
- name.ng – open domain
- mobi.ng – open domain, suitable for mobile devices
- mil.ng – closed domain (Nigerian Military Establishments only)
- i.ng – open domain, All purpose and businesses
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of .NG for business?
Advantages of .NG domains on business
- Our Identity: .NG is the official ICANN approved country code top level domain extension for Nigeria.
- Ease of Finding Corresponding Names: Availability of domain names is better on the .ng ccTLD platform than on the gTLDs like .com, .org, and .net.
- Branding and Geo targeting: It makes local content accessible to the Nigerian community.
- of local content to the Nigerian market
- Security: We have our own primary DNS servers that are locally managed for security purposes.
- Helps Our Economy: Aims at improving the Nigerian Economy’s global image and helps in creating job opportunities for myriad of jobless IT professionals in the country.
- For the patriotic You! – Because you’re a citizen of this great nation, Nigeria, having a .ng domain is a sign of ambassadorship for younger and existing generations!
The little disadvantages that I know of:
If your business is targeted at international audience, having the .NG domain name may not be ideal for you. You’d be better off with .com, .net, or .org gTLDs domain name instead because they’d help position your business towards international audience. For example, for bloggers serving Google Ads to say, USA audience, it’d be ideal if you have a .com domain for this purpose than having a .NG domain. Aside the above reason, you should think coming home as the best business advice for you in 2016. Looking at the way Nigerian internet ecosystem is evolving, it is time to eat from the national cake! And having your customized .NG domain is the best and cheapest way to do just that.
Will you switch to .ng domain or not, let me know your thoughts!
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Whatss Presiden Award .. I will watch