NiRA’s move comes amid a gap between Nigeria’s population and its domain name footprint. Despite having over 242 million people, Nigeria has recorded about 240,000 .ng domain registrations. By comparison, South Africa, with a population of about 65.4 million, has approximately 1.4 million domain registrations, while Kenya, with 58.6 million people, has about 115,000 domains registered.

 

NiRA to drive .ng domain name uptake among Nigerians

NiRA says closing this gap is critical to advancing Nigeria’s digital economy and strengthening its national digital identity framework.

According to the registry, increased adoption of the .ng domain will support internet growth in Nigeria while enhancing local visibility for businesses and individuals seeking a trusted online presence.

To drive uptake, NiRA says it will intensify marketing efforts and awareness campaigns.

“This growth drive,” NiRA says, “will be supported by efforts to increase .ng brand visibility through targeted digital marketing campaigns and implement impactful corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that promote digital identity and the use of .ng domains.”

The association is also prioritising improvements in registry infrastructure to support higher adoption levels, with a focus on enhancing system security, stability, and availability.

“The plan is to DNSSEC across the .ng zones to strengthen the domain name system security and invest in enhanced cybersecurity infrastructure to monitor threat detection, and response capabilities,” NiRA says.

To sustain these improvements, NiRA says it will strengthen the technical capacity of its team through training and knowledge development to manage a more complex and security-sensitive domain environment.

The registry is also seeking deeper collaboration with registrars and ecosystem partners to expand distribution channels and increase market reach.

Beyond market expansion, NiRA’s strategy signals structural changes in governance. Under its organisational capacity agenda, the association says it will align with global best practices by strengthening institutional effectiveness and separating governance from management functions.

“We will undertake a review of the existing NiRA constitution and remove executive management responsibilities currently assigned to the Board of Directors,” NiRA says, adding that plans are underway “to establish a C-Level Executive Management Team responsible for the day-to-day management and operational execution of the organisation.”

NiRA is also increasing engagement with policymakers to create an enabling environment for domain growth. The association says it will work with government institutions and stakeholders to promote policies that encourage adoption of the .ng domain among corporates, businesses, and individuals.

It also plans to advocate for legislative and regulatory measures to support the adoption, growth, and protection of Nigeria’s country code top-level domain.

As part of this effort, NiRA says it will promote the use of .ng domains across public sector institutions, including ministries, departments, and agencies at federal and sub-national levels, to deepen integration of the national domain within government digital infrastructure.