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A Message From The President

      January 8, 2015                       Volume 3 No. 46
2015 New Year Greetings

Happy New Year to you!

I wish all a very Happy New Year, filled with blessings and successes.

I also want to thank you for your support of NiRA.

Despite not meeting our set target in 2014 in terms of domain name registrations, we can honestly say we had a good year with increase in awareness of .ng domain names and domain business in Nigeria, growth in the number of Registrars and domain names and setting the stage for more growth in all spheres of the domain name business in Nigeria.

NiRA participated in many awareness programmes/ events and hosted events geared at publicity awareness of .ng domain names and .ng ccTLD. NiRA hosted the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) in June 2014 and also had the opportunity of hosting Africa in Abuja in July 2014 during the “Africa DNS Forum”. NiRA participated actively in the Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) in July 2014 and eNigeria all hosted in Abuja, “Nigerian Content Consultative Forum” at Bayelsa, “Standard for IT Park” at Enugu hosted by NITDA and numerous other progammes in the bid to continue creating the awareness of the .ng ccTLD and its operations. NiRA was also at ICANN, AFTLD, IGF and GITEX events last year.

NiRA entertained students of Federal University, Dutsin-ma, Katsina State, provided support at “ Kano ICT Quiz 2014 with CITAD”, “Next CEO Youth Empowerment” at LASU, “Global Hope and Justice for the Less Privileged at the training of Nigerian Youths with disability on ICT”, “Digital Peers International Programme- Agricultural Transformation using ICT” and many other numerous local programmes.

The future growth of NiRA and domain names is very paramount.  

With the commitment and efforts of NiRA Board of Trustees, Executive Board members, staff, Registrars and Registrants, targets were set to increase the number of domain names and the accreditation of registrars. Reasonable increases and progress were made in the .ng domain name business. Even though the growth of NiRA is commendable, the journey is still far from being the best Registry in Africa.

NiRA is competing in a global market and is set to work more vigorously throughout 2015 and in years ahead towards realizing set goals. We will not relent. We shall continue to strive for greater achievements and with God on our side and the support of the industry, we shall get there.

NiRA remains committed to the growth of .ng domain names and putting forth our best efforts towards growth of the .ng ccTLD and providing the needed support to our teeming Registrars and by extension to our Registrants.
NiRA is geared to listening to industry forces and paying attention to global trends and would expand our sales to include opening up other zones and release of two letters word domain names to the public. Also we intend to reduce the number of premium domain names. Your continued support and encouragement will be most highly appreciated.

Thank you all for your support and commitment to NIRA. I wish you a fulfilling and profitable 2015, God bless our businesses, God bless NIRA and God bless Nigeria. Amen! Happy New Year!
 
Mrs. Mary Nma Uduma
President

News!  News!!  News!!!
Vacancy for ICANN Leadership Positions 


We report that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) Nominating Committee (NomCom) had declared vacancies for interested individuals to submit applications and/or to recommend candidates for ICANN's key leadership positions. Applications in 2015 are invited for the following positions:
  • Three members of the ICANN Board of Directors
  • Three At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) representatives (one each from the Africa, Asia/Australia/Pacific Islands and Latin America/Caribbean Islands regions)
  • Two members of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)
  • One member of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO)
READ MORE

ICANN 53 Fellowship Application Round Now Open


The Intenet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) Fellowship programme provides opportunities for participants from developing countries interested in the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier system. The goals of the Fellowship Program are to help broaden the base of knowledgeable constituents engaged in ICANN's Multistakeholder process and to encourage the participation of new voices from around the world.
 
ICANN's current application round seeks prospective candidates for the June 2015 ICANN Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The application process closes on 16 January 2015, with successful candidates announced on the ICANN website on 6 March 2015.
 
For more information about the Fellowship Programme or about how to apply, visit ICANN's Fellowship Programme page here.
READ MORE
 
A TRIP TO NiRA AND IXPN – Okpegboroh Sandra Ese

 
This story is in continuation of the series of best stories from some 300 Level students of both Mathematics and Computer Science and IT Programmes on academic visit from Federal University, Dutsin-ma Katsina State. The visit was part of their compulsory academic programme called “Lab Field work for Mathematical Sciences/Computers I”, to blend their theoretical knowledge with what is obtainable in the industry/field.
Based on her experience, this piece is from Miss Sandra Ese Okpegboroh titled “A trip to NiRA and IXPN” and quoted below.
“Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) is the registry for .ng Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) and maintains the database of names registered in the dot ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) namespace in the public interest of Nigeria and global internet communities. Few weeks ago, precisely on the 28th of October 2014 the students of Mathematical Sciences (300 Level) of Federal University Dutsin-ma, Katsina state (FUDMA) embarked on a journey to visit Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) in alliance with NiRA  in Lagos Nigeria.
READ MORE

Domain Report from 1st January to 31st December, 2014


The month of December 2014 recorded a drop in the .ng domain name purchase activities by the Registrants. (One can guess that domain names are not popular gift items!). There was also a slight decrease in the number of domain names renewed in the same month mainly due to the Christmas and New Year festivals and celebrations. Interestingly, there was a remarkable increase in the transfer window. This could be traced to entrance of new registr
ars.

READ MORE

UPCOMING EVENTS

ICANN 52 | Singapore Meeting
8th to 12th
February 2015

Raffles City Convention Centre
Singapore
READ MORE



WSIS Forum 2015

25th to 29th May 2015, ​Geneva, Switzerland
READ MORE
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NIRA's mailing address is:
Nigeria Internet Registration Association
9 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
Mobile: 08172004272, http://www.nira.org.ng
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