The Yuletide is here, Compliments of the Season! Indeed these are happy times in NIRA and Nigeria.
Let me on your behalf, thank the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, ably represented by Mr. Tope Fashedemi the Director, E-Government in the Ministry, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umaru Danbatta, ably represented by Mr. Haru Alhassan, the Director General/CEO National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, ably represented by Dr. Abdullahi Gambo Usman, for honoring our invitation to attend AFRINIC-27.
I sincerely appreciate the Chairman and other members of the NiRA Board of Trustees, Members of NiRA Executive Board of Directors, Members of the AFRINIC Board of Directors, the AFRINIC Council of Elders, AFRINIC Community, Gentlemen of the Fourth Estate of the realm, and all the Distinguished participants for your support, turnout, participation and promotion of the Afrinic-27 meeting that took place from 27th November to 1st December 2017 at Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja Lagos.
With over 300 participants, and over 60% being non Nigerians, we left all the delegates asking for more. Truly, as the African adage says, “when spiders unite, they can tie a lion”.
We did it, clearly with that unity of purpose, the Nigerian spirit. The feedback from the visitors is that we gave our best and Nigeria is a great place to visit. NIRA has carved its name in GOLD, within the AFRINIC community. Thank you all, for helping us give Nigeria a good and positive image.
I am indeed favoured by God to have donned the two exciting caps of the Chief Host and the Chief Guest, all in one. It was a great feeling. To the Management and Staff of NIRA ably led by Edith Udeagu the COO of NIRA, Muchas Gracias, God bless you all Amen!
While we were hosting Africa, our active .ng domain count crossed the 100,000th mark. By the end of November 2017, we had 100,973 (One hundred thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy Three) active domain names. For some ccTLDs, this is not news but for .ng, it is indeed a milestone.
I acknowledge the efforts and contributions of every stakeholder in the .ng ecosystem and congratulate us all, for this great achievement. We must not relent. We will make it to the 1,000,000th (One Million) mark shortly, lets go there!
I remain at your service.
Rev’d Sunday Folayan
President, NIRA Executive Board