Tech experts on Thursday at the NiRA Tech Convergence 1.0 in Lagos say that Nigerian businesses should switch to the nation’s .ng domain names for their online presence to unlock the benefits of the internet real estate.
NiRA Tech Convergence 1.0 themed “Innovating Nigeria’s Digital Future through Tech and Creativity,” organised by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), which manages the country’s domain registry, explores how .ng domains can help businesses build a solid brand identity, and cut costs in an increasingly digital economy.
During a panel session, Ahmad Mukoshy, Chief Executive Officer of Gigalayer, explains that the .ng domain gives businesses a beginner’s advantage. He describes the Nigerian internet identity, .ng domain name, as the cleanest domain space. An advantage of having a .ng domain name, he says, is that it improves search ranking, recognition and branding for businesses.
The NiRA Tech Convergence 1.0 panel sessions also focused on the affordability and accessibility of .ng domains. Unlike global domains like .com, which are becoming saturated, .ng domains offer more options for securing preferred business names.
The .ng is a ‘symbol of the Nigerian identity on the internet’
Another panelist, Omotola Olaseni, Chief Operating Officer, GO 54, pitches how the .ng domain name can essentially be seen as a symbol of the Nigerian identity on the internet. “Having a .ng domain name gives your business that digital identity online,” Olaseni says.
For Baffajo Beita, Chief Information Officer at Galaxy Backbone, “the .ng domain gives us Nigerians a sovereign identity, indicating that this is a Nigerian, and Nigerians are the ones powering it, contributing to it, etc.”
The Galaxy Backbone CIO spotlights the Onegov.ng, which is an eGovernment service of DigiServe Network Services Limited, that uses advanced technologies and strategic partnerships to enable citizens access government services in a most convenient and simplified way, according to its makers.
Beita described it as a solution that is powered by, and shows the indigenous content or local content that we have in Nigeria. According to him, “we have indigenous developers that can develop anything that any company from the west country can do.” He says that, “thinking in more detail, just like you have the country code, +234, the .ng domain also is symbolic to that.”
The NiRA Tech Convergence 1.0 panel sessions also focused on the affordability and accessibility of .ng domains. Unlike global domains like .com, which are becoming saturated, .ng domains offer more options for securing preferred business names.
Ebenezer Dare, Chief Executive Officer, HostLag, explains that local domains like .ng can make businesses more secure by reducing exposure to global cyber threats from hosts like WordPress. If businesses use local domains, Dare says, it can boost local optimisation rankings, making it easier for Nigerian customers to find businesses online, while explaining that search engines prioritise local domains for users searching from within the country. In terms of the pricing for .ng domains, Dare reveals that “with the cost of one .com, you can buy three .ng domain names.”
Addressing cyber security concerns, Busayo Balogun, Head of Corporate Services, NiRA, says that “the registry currently is in the process of implementing the DNSSEC to add another layer of security,” adding that the organisation is taking concrete steps to ensure that customers and clients are protected.
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) is a protocol designed to protect websites and domains from threats like data spoofing and cyberattacks. It adds an extra layer of security to the DNS system by ensuring that the responses to DNS queries come from a legitimate source and haven’t been tampered with.
NiRA says it is benchmarking best practices and learning from countries that have successfully deployed DNSSEC for their country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). At ICANN80 which was held in June 2024, in Kigali, Rwanda, NiRA also engaged with other nations to gain insights and share experiences.
The .ng domain, Nigeria’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD), has seen steady growth, with over 226,000 registrations as of mid-2024, according to data from NiRA.