For the year 2019, the statutory meeting of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA); the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM); held on Tuesday, the 30th of April 2019 in Lagos and it was a great meeting. Fruitful discussions, great observations and contributions were the hallmark of the day as NiRA members reviewed the 2018 Annual report and reviewed the 2019 Business Plan of the organisation. Attendance both physically and virtually was impressive, with members participating fully in all the activities of the AGM. Elections were conducted to fill the vacant positions on the NiRA Board. The members, by popular vote, elected me, Mr. Muhammed Rudman as President of NiRA to pilot the affairs of our Association. I am honoured by the trust reposed in me by the NiRA General Assembly.
Firstly I must thank God for this honour and responsibility. I thank Rev’d Sunday Folayan, my predecessor, with whom I had served on the NiRA Board for the last four years as the Vice President. He had successfully steered the affairs of the Association to the next level from where he took over from Mrs. Mary Uduma. The number of .ng domain names registered and renewed annually had grown, many Nigerians are now aware of the .ng brand, the Nigerian Online identity in Cyberspace and the educational level of the Domain Name System (DNS) is on the increase. I want to thank the NiRA Executive Board, who have been there at every step we had taken. I am grateful for their maturity and dedication.
Through unity of purpose, we believe we can improve upon the gains of the last four years and we will focus on three core areas of the organisation’s business:
- Increase in Domain Name registrations
- Increase in number of Accredited Registrars and Resellers
- Excellence in service provision
We have commenced the journey. Barely two days after the elections, I was opportuned to represent NiRA at the just concluded .gov.ng and .mil.ng policies sensitisation forum organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). This was organised by NITDA in collaboration with NiRA to present the reviewed .gov.ng and .mil.ng policies to major stakeholders in government. These policies guide how .ng domain names can be registered by government establishments at Federal, State and Local Government levels. The event was flagged off by Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the Director General/ Chief Executive Officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The feedback from the event has been very good and it is hoped that we can leverage on the gains from this as we move into the SWITCHTO.NG campaign, where we take the campaign to all the 36 States of the Federation. We are very keen on promoting the use of ng domain names for Nigerian websites, email addresses and blogs, promoting local content and local hosting.
I look forward to working with the General Assembly, the NiRA Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, NiRA Accredited Registrars and all NiRA stakeholders. Together we shall succeed in our quest to massively increase the number of .ng domain names and make the registration more affordable for those who wish to register and use the .ng domain names.
Muhammed Rudman
President, NIRA Executive Board