The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), managers of (.ng) Nigeria’s unique identity on the internet has announced a scheduled Workshop on the Management of .gov.ng domains, to hold on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.  The Workshop which is a collaborative effort between NIRA and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is expected to commence at 8.00 am.

.ng is that 2-character country code reserved for, and used by Nigeria on the Internet. It is, otherwise, referred to as Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain.

Giving a preview of the event, the President, Executive Board of NIRA, Mrs. Mary Uduma, noted that this workshop is the first, of Workshops towards actualising the Federal Government's decision to migrate all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies to .ng, as well as the directive of the Honourable Minister of Communications Technology to transfer the Management of Federal MDAs domains to Galaxy Backbone Ltd.

While commending the decision of the Federal Government to migrate all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ domain names to .ng, Mrs. Uduma averred that the adoption of the .ng is for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Mrs. Uduma emphasized that beyond the issues of National identity and patriotism, which are important and relevant, the government of the day is aware of the potentials of this important national resource, especially the safety the country code provides relative to the use of gTLDs for the affairs of the Nation.

According to The NIRA President, “The war on the Negative publicity in cyberspace will be won on all fronts, when institutions of government, credible real and legal persons and entities in Nigeria adopt the use of the .ng, not just from a consumer perspective, but by generating and uploading Nigerian contents to the internet”.

On the milestones for the Workshop, Mrs. Uduma said that through this Workshop, it is expected all MDAs will migrate to the .ng platform, emphasizing that those whose current websites are not on .ng should simply register a .ng domain name, and redirect their existing websites to the .gov.ng.  MDAs are expected to then open E-Mail accounts on their .ng web addresses, and thus save the nation from the continuous embarrassment of having its government officials write yahoo/Hotmail E-Mail addresses on their official cards.  She also noted that the Association has a set goal of achieving 500,000 domains by the end of the year, and that the Workshop and others that shall follow are targeted at surpassing this goal.

Expected participants at the Workshop, according to the President, Executive Board of NIRA, are Government MDAs, the Armed Forces, Professionals, Stakeholders, the Media, and the interested Public.  Persons and departments responsible for IT functions in all Government establishments have been contacted to ensure that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government are represented, she said.     She opined that Galaxy Backbone Limited, an accredited Registrar of NIRA shall be on hand at the venue to assist applicants with the process of registering .ng domains.

Mrs. Uduma stressed that the Workshop will hold at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Central Business District, Abuja on Wednesday, April 4, 2012.  Registration for the Workshop commences at 8.00 am. the workshop has the endorsement of the offices of both the SGF and the Head of Service. The Honourable Minister of Communication Technology shall deliver the keynote Address and declare the workshop open.  The Workshop Sessions shall be presided over by the DG, NITDA.

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