The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), says there is need for a shift in the outlook of government and private sector policies in relation to .ng domain name registration.
Mary Uduma, president of the Assocation, made this remark in a presentation, entitled: ‘Leveraging Multistakeholder Ecosystem for .ng Growth’, delivered at the 6th Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum in Lagos. Uduma who was represented by Akinbo Cornerstone, further added that the prerequisites for scaling up .ng are indeed multi- faceted, requiring
collaboration of various sectors including Government. Aside from requiring a paradigm shift in government and private sector policies and practices, the strategy to achieve this has to be flexible and dynamic, according to her, capitalising on proper utilisation of existing and emerging opportunities.
Uduma said that the process needs depth in scope for different actors to lead at different times and at various levels of partnership formed on the basis of transparency, accountability and mutual sharing of responsibilities, risks, and benefits. In addition to government’s efforts, the NiRA Boss said, “The Ministry of Communication Technology is taking a giant leap with the creation of cross-platform that allows for an online registration portal that can be used for registration of Companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission; “The eGovernment has gone a step further to agree and set a deadline for migration of all Government Websites to switch to .gov.ng before August 27, and under the leadership of Omobola Johnson, ministry of communications technology and NITDA has contributed immensely to .ng growth.
The private sector, she said, “Partnership formed on supporting local content growth has increased the uptake of the .com.ng by the likes of Google. “The .ng Registry can boast of zero downtime due to the like of MainOne Cable highly impressive support for managing bandwidth. “Many more MoU are in the kitty to be signed for promoting enduser orientation and awareness by service providers such as MTN, Airtel, to mention a few”. Uduma, however, admitted that more has to be done for greater results on the registration. Nkemdilim Nweke, executive director, Operations, DigitialSENSE Africa Media, said the Forum was specifically created as a think-tank platform where Nigerian internet stakeholders converge to address germane issues concerning the ICT sector, particularly, computing, internet governance-related issues.
This would greatly assist to further Nigeria in the ever rapidly advancing phenomenon of global ICT. Speaking on the theme of the Forum, ‘Internet Governance, eBiz and Open Access in Nigeria,’ she said it offers Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom operators, value added service providers
and other stakeholders the enabling ground to articulate a stand on internet governance issues and accurately align NDSF on IG4D position into the national, regional, Africa and global agenda. While addressing the Forum, the students in attendance, she said, “It is pertinent to remind all young internet users, particularly, to always be mindful of what they post on the internet because everything posted on the net is traceable to the author.
Therefore, you are passionately advised to mind the stuff you post and the language with which materials are posted on the internet for global consumption.”
