Copy
You are receiving this eNewsletter as a member/subscriber to the mailing list of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA)
NIRA    Registry.ng    switchto.ng       LICF    

A Message From The President

     December 4, 2014                       Volume 2 No. 44
NIRA at eNigeria 2014 Conference… Our Participation, Our take Home| Recognition of NiRA Board Members
Stakeholders in ICT industry gathered at this year's eNigeria Conference at Abuja, which was organized by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders from private and public sector as well as non-governmental organisations. The Special Guest of Honour was Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, President and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, who declared open the program. Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Communication Technology was the Chief Host, with Mr. Peter Olu Jack, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, as the host. So many other dignitaries from within and outside the ICT industry graced the occasion, including Mr. Jelani Aliyu, Nigerian U.S based Automobile and Industrial Designer, Prof. Turner Isoun, Former Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and some students of Pyramid of Excellence School, Abuja.
The annual eNigeria Conference provides an actual platform for ICT awareness creation, developing appropriate framework and setting goals for best practices in order to encourage the positioning of Nigeria in the global information society. This year’s conference held from 18th to 20th November 2014 with the theme: 'Creating Market Opportunities for Indigenous ICT Products and Services'. Discussions were focused on how to empower technology start-ups and young entrepreneurs with technology tools.
The conference provided the opportunity to showcase indigenous ICT innovations for national development and allowed participants to enumerate the gains and development that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has brought to Nigeria in the last few years. Yours truly was in attendance with some NiRA Executive Board members and staff. Apart from participating at the conference, NiRA had a booth to showcase NiRA and the .NG domain business.
 

Welcoming participants to the event, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack, noted that "Nigeria's ICT sector has continued on the growth path contributing over 10 per cent to the nation’s growth domestic product. “In the area of job creation, reports say an average of about 12 million jobs have been created by the sector in the last two years," Jack said.
The former Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun, said: "Government has been on the right track in creating a veritable platform for the growth of ICT in the country." He however lamented about the poor penetration of Broadband Internet access and explained that wealth is in data as voice has been overtaken by data communication. Isoun revealed that Nigeria, through NIGCOMSAT, where he is Chairman of the Board, is currently testing the KA band transmission, which will bring Broadband access to the remote areas in Nigeria. He called on the private sector to be more positive about Nigeria and imbibe the culture of collaboration with government for the purpose of a well-rounded growth of our dear country. "The private sectors must embrace shared value, win-win and cooperate with government to create job," Isoun said.
The keynote speaker, a US based automobile and industrial designer, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, said: "Nigeria is in an interesting and very decisive moment in the nation’s history, and we must not underestimate the amazing power of human imagination." He called on Nigerians to re-awaken the humanity in them that stands them out in the comity of nations.
With particular reference to Asia, Aliyu challenged Nigerian government to strive to move the country from a consuming economy to a producing and manufacturing focused one.
The event for us at NIRA was a huge success, with many of our Board members in attendance taking part in the deliberations during and at the closing ceremony with “moi”, Mrs. Mary Uduma signing the event communique along-side the DG of NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack. The NiRA Secretariat staff were not left out of the 3 days event, our booth was busy throughout with our staff attending to participants that came from all over Nigeria.  The presence of an accredited Registrar boosted the registration of some domain names at the conference.
See link for the event Communiqué: http://enigeria.gov.ng/              
News!  News!!  News!!!
ICANN Draft Five-Year Operating Plan
ICANN had introduced the addition of a Five-Year Operating Plan to its planning process and seeks public comment on the Draft Five-Year Operating Plan Version 1 (FY2016-FY2020) [PDF, 1.04 MB]. The public comment period began on Monday, 11 November 2014 and would be completed on Monday, 5 January 2015, a total of 55days.
 
This year's calendar for the Five-Year Operating Plan will be:


The ICANN Draft Five-Year Operating Plan includes input from the ICANN community during the development of the Strategic Plan. In support of the planning process, the Five-Year Operating Plan will be updated annually based on that year's performance and the anticipated results, and in accordance with the Financial Model parameters for resources and dependencies. This will also be in accordance with the Multi-Year Planning Calendar. The Five-Year Operating plan includes: five-year planning calendar, strategic goals with corresponding key performance indicators, dependencies, five-year phasing, and list of portfolios; and a five-year financial model.
 
The opening remarks by Fadi Chehadé (ICANN President and CEO) at ICANN 51 included an overview of the Planning Process. Please refer to HERE for the recording.
 
The Annual Operating Plan and Budget will subsequently be derived from the Five-Year Operating Plan following community input.
Source: ICANN WEBSITE
 
Minister Unveils Switchto.Gov.Ng Email Platform For Federal Civil
Service

On Wednesday 19th November 2014, the Honorable Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson presented the unified email platform “fedcs.gov.ng” Initiative to the Head of Service, Danladi Kifasi and Directorate staff. The email platform is expected to serve as the only means of email communication for all Federal Civil servants. This Initiative is expected to aid the adoption and penetration of .gov.ng amongst the civil servants. It is one of the products of the swithcto.gov.ng, a campaign that NIRA started in April 2012 and was launched by the Federal Ministry of Communication to encourage all government agencies, parastatals and all other government bodies to adopt .gov.ng. The “switchto.gov.ng” programme, reflects the Nigeria’s country code top level domains (ccTLD), meant as a good step in right direction.
 
Dr. Omobola Johnson, at the presentation of the Initiative, stressed that it is a simple but very important tool for the take-off of the official electronic communication platform in the Federal Civil Service of the Federation.
 
The Minister charged civil servants to make effective use of the unified email platform of the Federal Government. She reiterated that there is need for all government officials to have the unified email addresses and also personal email accounts that ends with .ng
 
She disclosed that 42, 000 email accounts have been created for all officers on grade level 10 to grade level 17 in the Federal Civil Service.
 
Also a standard naming convention has been adopted in the creation of email accounts for all civil servants:
 
firstname
.surname@fedcs.gov.ng.
NIRA is proud to be part of the Steering Committee on .gov.ng migrations by ALL Ministries Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria promoting .ng, the country code Top Level Domain ccTLD which is Nigeria’s unique identity on the Cyberspace.
NIRA congratulates the Honorable Minister of Communication Technology, The Head of Service for the Federation, National Information Technology Development Agency and Galaxy Backbone including Mr. S L Akinnusi for his tenacity to see this happen. 
 
Domain Report from 1st January to 30th November, 2014
There was a slight increase in the number of domain names registered in November 2014. There was also a slight decrease in the number of domain names renewed in the same month. Additional 1,742 domain names were registered, with renewal of 828 domain names and transfer of only 33 domain names. The total activities of domain names in November 2014, was less than in the month of October 2014. So far this year, as at 30th November 2014, there were 17,367 (Seventeen Thousand, Three Hundred and Sixty-Seven only) domain names registered.
The number of NiRA Accredited Registrars has increased to 47 (Forty Seven), with some applications for Registrar registration undergoing processing. Every month, at least an applicant completes their registration process and commences registration of .ng domain names, etc.
 
Below is the table showing the breakdown for the referenced period. See table and graph
READ MORE


UPCOMING EVENTS
NIRA REGISTRARS FORUM 
Date: Wednesday 17th Nov. 2014
Time: 11:00am
Venue: NIRA OFFICE COMPLEX
8, Funsho Williams Avenue,
Iponri, Surulere, Lagos.
 

 

Follow us on Twitter    Friend us on Facebook    Forward to a Friend 

NIRA's mailing address is:
Nigeria Internet Registration Association
9 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
Mobile: 08172004272, http://www.nira.org.ng
unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences