NIRA eNewsletter

Engaging all Stakeholders

I am delighted to share with you, some of our activities since the last edition of the eNewsletter.

Last week, I was privileged to discuss about NIRA with the Board of the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Government Agency directly responsible for the activities of NIRA. NITDA has been very supportive of NIRA activities. Apart from financially supporting NIRA, NITDA also partners with us in the SwitchTo .gov.ng campaign amongst Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The NiRA Executive Board of Directors had its quarterly meeting last week, on the 22^nd May 2015 where the Board reviewed its plans and noted the various successes recorded in the quarter. At the meeting, the Board also approved the setup of a Stakeholders Engagement Committee and has charged it with the responsibility of further deepening the engagement of NIRA with its various stakeholders, including Registrars, Government, Civil Societies, Organized Private Sector, Women and the Youths of the Nation.

The Committee will be headed by Mr. Temitope Fashedemi, who is the Director of e-Government in the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology. Other members include Mrs. Mary Uduma, the NiRA Immediate Past President, Mr. Sikiru Shehu, the Registrar of CPN, Mr. Seinde Akinnusi, Past Director of IT at the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Sunday Olutayo a member of the Board, as well as Yours truly. This action of active engagement will complement our publicity efforts and further grow NIRA.

In the coming editions, I invite you, our stakeholders to make inputs into our eNewsletters. It is all about communicating NIRA to you and others. We want to read about what you are doing to popularize the Registry and increase the adoption of the .ng brand in your various corners.

This weekend, I will be leading the Nigerian Delegation that will be attending the African Internet Summit (AIS) in Tunisia. At the Summit, I will be Chairing the Annual General Meeting of the AfriNIC Ltd, the IP Address Registry for Africa. NIRA is also a member of AFRINIC.

May has been a very busy month, but it is just the beginning for us. We will stay the course!

Your President.

Sunday Folayan

NiRA opens up ‘excit.i.ng’ zone
Nigeria’s presence on the Internet (cyberspace) is expected to receive a new boost with the expected massive registration of domain names under the “.i .ng” zone.
The offer price for domain names under this zone is same as domain names under the third level. Please contact NiRA Accredited Registrars. LINK HERE

Why “.i.ng” domain name?

To serve as another platform in promoting the .ng ccTLD and growth of .ng domain names across Nigeria and beyond.
The new zone “.i.ng” enhances the possibility of serving specific individual trades and/or interest groups.
Examples include: ‘excit.i.ng’, ‘school.i.ng’, ‘danc.i.ng’, etc.

Why should I use “.i.ng” domain name.

“.i.ng” zone is an approved NIRA zone for the Internet users.
Domain names under this zone can enhance your brand name and business.
All domain names registered under the “.i.ng” zone are as secured as domain names registered under other approved zones.

NiRA is calling on individuals and organisations, local and international, private and public, to register domain names under the new “.i.ng” zone.
We are Bring.i.ng out the uniqueness of .ng!
NIRA keeps you shin.i.ng

NiRA has provided for a ‘sunrise period’ of 30 days for registered domain names ending with ‘*i.ng’ and has reserved all the ‘*.i.ng’ version of registered domain names ending ‘*i.ng’ purchased by and for registrants. These ‘*.i.ng’ version of registered ‘*i.ng’ are on offer for purchase to the registrants of such domain names. Should the Registrant of ‘*i.ng’ want to take up the offer of the ‘*.i.ng’, kindly contact your accredited Registrar. This ‘sunrise period’ is valid from 8th May 2015 to 7th June 2015, after which all the unpurchased ‘*.i.ng’ version of registered domain names ending with ‘*i.ng’ would be open for registration to anyone.
Please note the sunrise period is from 8^th May 2015 to 7^th June 2015.

Deploying “The Africa IANA Month” Across Africa

In a recent discussion with an African Diplomat accredited to the UN in New York, he had this question : "why does the IANA stewardship thing matter at all for Africa? "

This was an indicator of the level of awareness in Africa of the process for transitioning the stewardship of the IANA functions. The above gave birth to the launch of the Africa special month in April through to May, on the
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NiRA at ICTEL EXPO 2015

The ICTEL EXPO 2015 organized by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) was a professional trade show that focused on Information Communication Technology and Telecommunications industry. The theme of the ICTEL EXPO 2015 was captioned “Connecting Businesses, Creating Opportunities”. The event took place at Eko Hotels and Suite from 25th to 27th May, 2015 with government establishments like Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria Information Technology Department Agency (NITDA), Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), etc.

The ICTEL EXPO gave a 360°view of the ICT industry and gave visibility to sweeping trends, innovations and was an excellent networking opportunity for business decision makers, innovation managers, enterprise solution providers, start-ups, ICT academics, investors, and other players in the ICT sectors (indigenous and international).

NiRA exhibited the .ng brand. There was high traffic of visitors to the NiRA exhibition booth. The public were given the opportunity to register as members and informed that NiRA operates the 3R Model (i.e. Registry, Registrars and Registrant) and that .ng domain names can be acquired through NIRA accredited registrars listed on the NiRA website www.nira.org.ng.
The highlights of the event were

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A Message From The President