.ng
| Introduced | 15 March 1995 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Nigeria Internet Registration Association |
| Sponsor | National Information Technology Development Agency |
| Intended use | Entities connected with Nigeria |
| Actual use | Very popular in Nigeria |
| Registered domains | 157,072 (May 2020)[1] |
| Registration restrictions | Open domains can be registered by anybody with intent to use; semi-closed and closed domains have specific industry-based restrictions. |
| Structure | Registrations can be made both at the second and third levels; NIRA may register premium domains at the second level |
| Documents | NIRA Policies[dead link] |
| Dispute policies | NIRA Dispute Resolution Policy[dead link] |
| Registry website | NIRA (Nigeria Internet Registration Association) |
.ng is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Nigeria. It is overseen by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA).
History
The top-level domain was first delegated in 1995 to Ibukun Odusote at the Yaba College of Technology.[2] She was made a life patron of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association in 2013 for her work.[3]
Operations were initially handled by an organization in Italy, the Instituto per le Applicazioni Telematiche[2] (today known as the Istituto di Informatica e Telematica),[4] but were later transferred to Randy Bush.[2] In 2004, .ng was re-delegated in 2004 to a Nigerian organization, the National Information Technology Development Agency,[2] and then in 2009, re-delegated to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association.[2]
Second level domains
- com.ng – open domain, commercial entities and businesses
- org.ng – semi-open domain, non-commercial organizations
- gov.ng – closed domain, governmental organizations
- edu.ng – closed domain, degree awarding institutions
- net.ng – closed domain, ISP infrastructure
- sch.ng – closed domain, secondary schools
- name.ng – open domain, individuals
- mobi.ng – open domain, suitable for mobile devices
- mil.ng – closed domain (Nigerian military establishments only)
- i.ng – open domain, any purpose
In addition, NIRA themselves reserve the right to register 'premium' top level domains under .ng (for example, "google.ng").[5]
Statistics
As of March 2022, there are 75 registrars accredited by NIRA.[6] The most popular domain zone is .com.ng, having almost 70% of all national domains registered. The .ng domain comes next (17%) although within the zone a domain name is shorter, domain registration here costs several times more than in .com.ng while .org.ng, which is usually used by non-profit organisations, ranks third (7%).[7]
References
- ^ ".NG DOMAIN NAME REPORT MAY 2020". Nigeria internet Registration Association (NiRA). Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "IANA — Report on the Redelegation of the .NG Top-Level Domain". www.iana.org. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
- ^ NIRA gets 3 life Patrons, IT Realms, Retrieved 23 January 2016
- ^ "Vent'anni di Cnr-Iit". National Research Council.
- ^ "NIRA Domain name policy". Retrieved 25 July 2017.
- ^ "History of NiRA(new) – NiRA Website". 2 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
- ^ ".NG Domain usage statistics. December, 2017". Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.