Despite Implementation Policy on Second Level Domain Name, Adoption Level Still Drags among Government Officials

Emma Okonji

In spite of efforts made by the federal government to populate .ng domain name among government officials that work in different agencies of government, the adoption rate still remains low, according to THISDAY investigation.

The .ng country code top level domain name (.ng ccTLD) is the online identity of Nigeria on the internet, which has the .ng at the suffix of every official email address that originates from Nigeria. In the United Kingdom, all official email addresses end with .co.uk, in United States of America, they end with .com, while in South Africa, official email addresses end with .co.za.

The .ng country code top level domain name also has second-level domains, which are industry-specific names like .gov.ng, .org.ng, and .edu.ng, which the federal government has tried to populate among government officials. The second-level domains also allow businesses, individuals, and organisations to describe their online identities using relevant domain extensions.

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) manages the .ng domain and its digital assets and NiRA has equally carried out several campaigns to sensitise Nigerians on the need to populate .ng domain name, aside the efforts of the federal government to populate .ng domain name among government officials, yet the adoption level remain abysmally low.

The federal government had in February 2022, unveiled the National Policy on Nigeria Government Second-Level Domains, which mandates that all government officials must refrain from using private emails for official purposes. The policy also states that Federal Public Institutions (FPIs), must migrate their websites to the relevant government domains. The policy clearly stated that it was crucial for government institutions that operate in Nigeria to use the appropriate second-level domain.

The policy targets institutions and organisations that must use the.gov.ng, .edu.ng, .mil.ng, and .sch.ng domains. The policy aims to ensure that these institutions are regulated according to guidelines and operations in the country, promoting accountability and recognition of Nigerians that are online. The policy also ensures that the data of government institutions is secure and hosted within data centres within Nigeria’s borders, in order to foster growth in the digital economy.

Following the introduction of the National Policy on Nigeria Government Second-Level Domains, NiRA, which is the body responsible for managing .ng domain name in Nigeria, commenced the implementation of the policy, in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). They started last year with strategy meetings through webinars with key stakeholders to ensure the successful adoption of these domains by the federal and state government institutions, schools, universities, and the military. Both NiRA and NITDA set up awareness campaign committees to sensitise and to develop training programmes to educate individuals on the policy’s implementation process.

In spite of the implementation process, .ng domain name adoption within government and the private sector organisatons, still remain low.

With a population of over 200 million people in Nigeria and with a total telecoms subscriber number of 220 million as at August 2023, the total number of registration, renewal and restoration of domain names in Nigeria was just 189,158 in March this year and later increased slightly to 191,215 in April, before reaching 193,085 in May this year.

According to the statistics, which THISDAY obtained from the official website of NiRA, the .ng domain name registration, renewal and restoration, rose slightly again from 193,085 in May to 195,098 in June, before reaching 198,294 in July 2023.

In comparing the growth rate between .ng domain name and telecoms subscriptions, vis-à-vis the population of Nigeria, industry stakeholders have said the adoption level of .ng domain name remained very low, despite efforts by the federal government and NiRA to populate .ng domain name in Nigeria.

President of NiRA, Mr. Adesola Akinsanya, told THISDAY that NiRA would remain open to strategic collaborations that would help in populating Nigeria’s .ng domain name.