The Internet works because of the cooperation and ingenuity of many people in a loosely defined management structure called the Internet Governance. There is the need for more active participation of Nigerians in Internet Governance. The Internet is governed by a multi-stakeholder group in a conscious based bottom up process. It is private sector led while the government supports the initiative with a sound policies and guidelines. It has been reported severally that there are over 92Million Nigerians online. This is bigger than the population of a number of countries. It is important that people should not be gagged but free to express themselves openly on the Internet but responsibly.
Currently in Nigeria, we have the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF), facilitating stakeholders input into the National Internet Governance Policy, which serves as input into the West Africa IGF (WAIGF), which aims to promote Internet Governance issues in West Africa through the same multi-stakeholder process. The WAIGF serves as input into the African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), where the African agenda is collated for input into the Global Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
The 2016 Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) held on 2nd June 2016 at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Center, Abuja with the theme “Harnessing Internet Governance for Inclusive Development and Smarter Nigeria”. The WAIGF holds from 17th to 18th November 2016 at Niamey, Niger. The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) would be represented at the forum. The 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), with the theme “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”, is scheduled to take place 6th to 9th December 2016 at Guadalajara, Mexico.
At the eNigeria Conference billed for 22nd to 24th November 2016, the .ng brand would be showcased by NiRA and NiRA Accredited Registrars. The event will hold at the International Conference Centre at Abuja, with the theme “Leveraging on IT Innovation for Economic Diversification”.
NiRA is committed to the security, stability and scalability of the Internet infrastructure in Nigeria and the privacy and security of Nigerians online.
Your President,
Rev’d Sunday Folayan
