After you have registered your domain name, you might decide to connect the name to your website. There are several factors to consider. It is possible you have decided to purchase hosting services from another company or need to change your hosting company, different from that company you used to register the domain name. It is not absolutely compulsory to have the same company provide the two services. You can spread your risks. There are also several companies who provide hosting services with free domain names. The choice is totally yours on what you decide to do to take your business online.
To explain basic terminologies, please note the following:
Domain Name: This is the name chosen to project your online presence.
Web Hosting Service: Those in the business of providing Internet services for keeping, serving and maintaining files for websites.
Nameservers: This are directories (also called DNS Servers) that points your registered domain name to the servers of the company that hosts your website.
To clarify the issues related to domain transfers and/or change of name servers, we would elaborate further on available options. So if you have two different companies providing the different services, you could:
Transfer your Domain name to the company providing you with web hosting services if the hosting company is a registrar or domain reseller; you may want the same company to manage both services. This primarily means a change of domain registrar. This is transferring your domain name from one registrar to another registrar. The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has 63 Accredited Registrars and you can choose from these registrars based on their acceptable terms and conditions.
Change the nameservers or records of the domain name to reflect the nameservers of your hosting company. By default the initial nameservers are provided by the company where you register the domain name. So, if your website is being hosted by another company, you just need to update the records on the servers of your Domain Name Registrar. A change of nameservers could take up to 48 hours to fully reflect the new records.
You do not need to transfer your domain name from one Registrar to Another, because you need to change the nameservers. You should be able to make the changes at your registrar, or you can always contact your registrar directly for assistance to change the nameservers or transfer the domain.
The Registry for .ng (ie NIRA), does not change the records of nameservers or transfer domain names for registrants. You can search http://whois.nic.net.ng/whois.jsp for the domain details including the registrar details.