The President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NIRA, Sunday Folayan, on Sunday said a total of 22,113 .ng domain names were registered in 2015.

Mr. Folayan made this known in a statement obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

The statement said that there was an increase of 3,240 .ng domain names registered in 2015, when compared to the 18,870 registered in the year 2014.

It said that the internet association renewed 14,462 .ng domain names in 2015, showing an increase of 3,143 renewals, as against 11,319 in 2014.

”NIRA engaged in the transfer of 85 domain names in 2015. We also witnessed an increase in the number of NIRA-accredited registrars with an increase of five.

”NIRA can now boast of having 53 accredited registrars. We are hopeful their number would increase in 2016, with the additional accreditation of local and foreign registrars.

”It has been proved that with more registrars across the country, Nigerian presence online would increase,” the statement said.

It recalled that in Jan. 2015, 1,542 .ng domain names were registered, 1,029 were renewed and 41 transfers were done.

The statement also said that 1,512 registrations, 1,003 renewals and 45 transfers were carried out in February, while in the month of March, 1,805 registrations, 1,362 renewals and 67 transfers were executed.

It also said that 1,509 registrations of .ng names, 1,308 renewals and 63 transfers were carried out in April, while 1,511 registrations, 1,205 renewals and 32 transfers were done in May, 2015.

According to the statement, the association registered, renewed and transferred 2,087, 1,214 and 54 .ng domain names, respectively, in the month of June, while in July, it registered 2,260 .ng names, renewed 1,249 and transferred 33.

It added that 1,990, 1,138 and 40 .ng domain names were registered, renewed and transferred, respectively, in August, as it moved to register 1,975, renewed 1,347 and transferred 33 names in September.

The statement said that in October, NIRA registered 2,101 .ng names, 1,276 were renewed and transferred 73, while it registered 2,032, renewed 1,117 and transferred 46 in the month of November.

It added that 1,789 registrations, 1,214 renewals and 85 transfers were carried out by NIRA in the month of December 2015.

In all, 37,187 .ng domain names activities were executed by the internet association in the year 2015.

The statement said that .ng (like our currency, the Naira and the +234 for country code) was the official Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), approved country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for Nigeria.

It said that the availability of names is better on the .ng ccTLD than on the generic top-level domain (gTLD) like .com or .org.

”With the .ng, our primary Domain Name System (DNS) servers are secured and locally managed with multiple cast servers located around the world,” the statement explained.

It added that hosting businesses on the .ng would help to support the Nigerian economy and provide jobs for local Information Technology (IT) professionals.

(NAN)