COVID-19: To take Nigerian businesses online, NiRA cuts domain name prices

Nigeria’s internet domain name manager says it has cut prices to encourage businesses go online following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Muhammed Rudman, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the official registry for the .ng internet domain name of the country, says the price cuts offer Covid-19 palliative to support businesses to go online.

The price cuts on .ng domain names, billed to run for three months ending November 21, were offered “as palliative in these tough times and in an effort to promote Nigerian businesses online”, according to the nation’s domain name manager.

Rudman, the NiRA President who dropped this hint Tuesday at Data Protection in Nigeria | The Virtual Conference organised by Technology Times in partnership with the Data Protection Ecosystem in Nigeria, says the price cuts will help more businesses in the country.

Mr Muhamed Rudman, President of Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) says domain name price cuts are palliatives to support local businesses following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NiRA President told attendees at Data Protection in Nigeria | The Virtual Conference that apart from being part of initiatives by the domain name manager to provide Covid-19 palliatives to Nigerians businesses, it also part of efforts to safeguard the data privacy of the nation’s internet community.

“It is all part of the data sovereignty to ensure that all Nigerians have access to the .ng. That's why we are doing a promo for the next three months so that individuals and corporates can register within the three months”, he says.

The NiRA President told attendees at Data Protection in Nigeria | The Virtual Conference that apart from being part of initiatives by the domain name manager to provide Covid-19 palliatives to Nigerians businesses, it also part of efforts to safeguard the data privacy of the nation’s internet community.

Mr Muhammed Rudman, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA)

According to Rudman, “there is another initiative that we are doing in collaboration with NITDA to get organisations that are registering with CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission) to have free domains when they are doing their registration, and those domains will be hosted locally.”

The NiRA price cuts are coming as a growing number of businesses in Nigeria are embracing online platforms to reach connected customers to win shares of growing eyeballs on the internet.

NiRA, the registry for .ng Internet Domain Name for Nigeria is responsible for maintaining the database of registered names in the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) namespace “in the public interest of Nigeria and global internet community”, according to the organisation.

“.ng is Nigeria’s identity on the Internet. Like our currency, the Naira and our dialling code +234, .ng is the official ICANN approved ccTLD for Nigeria, which is globally recognized and accepted”, NiRA says.

People seeen at a public event in Lagos, Nigeria. NiRA says it wants more Nigerian businesses to go online following price cuts on domain names.

In January 2017, NiRA publicly declared a mechanism to be used for reducing prices of .ng domain names based on the number of actual .ng domain registrations at the second level “to stimulate the uptake of the .ng domain name string and demystify the perception that .ng domain names are expensive.”

This mechanism which is known as the “NiRA Price Charter” has been beneficial in reducing the price of .ng domain names for over three years now, according to the domain name manager.

“However, in the light of the challenges being faced by many businesses in the COVID-19 era, NiRA desired to support businesses that require to take their products and services online.

NiRA therefore offers, as a palliative in these tough times and in an effort to promote Nigerian businesses online, to make these businesses more competitive and available, an opportunity for all to register non-premium second level .ng domain names at a largely discounted price, for a limited period of three months”, Rudman says.

“As NiRA operates the 3-R model (registry/registrar/registrant) of operations, members of the public are encouraged to contact participating NiRA Accredited Registrars for the registration of non-premium .ng domain names at the second level at the promo price and take advantage of this opportunity. There are terms and conditions attached to this promo”, according to the organisation.