A Message From The President

A busy month of Internet Governance!

 

AFRINIC, the Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources serving the African region and the Indian Oceans, held its 22nd Members Meeting and its 2014 Annual General Members' Meeting (AGMM), as part of the 3^rd Africa Internet Submit 2015 (AIS) from 24^th May to 5^th June 2015 in Tunis, Tunisia. The theme of the AIS 2015 was “Beyond Connection: Internetworking for African Development”. There were plenary sessions which brought stakeholder groups in the African ICT community together for public discussions, presentations and panel sessions. It was a very rewarding period for AFRINIC as key Internet related development issues faced by Africa were discussed. There was a presentation on the IANA Oversight Transition by our Immediate Past President, Mrs. Mary Uduma. We must note that the plans for the transition of the remaining U.S. oversight of key domain name system functions to the global multi-stakeholder community – ICANN as well as the plans to enhance ICANN’s accountability would be in the forefront and center at ICANN53 meeting at Buenos Aires, Argentina this month.

During the AGMM, the two vacant board members seats were filled with the election of Mr. Abibu Rashid Ntahigiye representing East Africa and Lucky Masilela representing South Africa, who would serve for a term of three years. Two other directors, whose terms would end by 30^th June 2015, stepped down and were replaced. Yours truly Chaired the AGMM, apart from other meetings of the Board of Directors.
 

In the coming week, I will be leading the Board of Directors of NIRA to Abuja, to make the Annual Statutory Presentation of our activities to NITDA, in fulfillment of the requirements in the MOU between NITDA and NIRA. I will also attend the West African Internet Governance Forum, that will hold between Thursday 18th and Friday 19th June 2015, there in Abuja. I hope to round the Month of Internet Governance off, with the ICANN meeting, holding in Beunos-Aires, Argentina between 21st and 25th June 2015.

Back home at NIRA, we have continued in our efforts of populating the .ng registry. It is heartwarming to witness in this era, a Nigerian company, Hotels.ng, spearheading Africa’s e-commerce revolution. Hotels.ng has built its hotel network to cover 7,000+ hotels in 21 regions across Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country. Knowing that e-commerce business in Africa cannot be replicated from Western models, the company built its blueprints from scratch. It is good to appreciate and praise those who invest in technology, propelling our country’s digital economy. Hotels.ng is another of Nigeria’s most exciting Internet start-ups. Using a 2^nd level .ng domain name will create greater visibility to their business. We acknowledge his support in the growth of the .ng ccTLD.

As I end this message, join me to welcome to NIRA, Mrs. Kemi Adepoju, who has resumed as the Head Business Development. We expect to derive more benefit from her wealth of experience as we serve the delicious NIRA to Corporate Nigeria.

Without you our stakeholders, our efforts are in vain. Thank you for your continued contributions to the .ng project.

 

Your President,

Sunday Folayan