The Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA) has announced the launch of the .ng domain name extension, which will allow second level domains to be registered in Nigeria.
Under the new extension, registers will be able to apply for .ng domains to replace the already existing .com.ng suffixes, BizCommunity reports.
Vicky Stilwell, director at Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs’ Intellectual Property department, told the publication the company believes the .ng extension will become more popular than the .com.ng domain.
Ms. Stilwell has since urged those who have already registered their .com.ng domain to obtain the matching .ng extension in order to protect their brand and trademarks.
According to Ms. Stilwell, the NIRA has placed a number of domains in a premium value category, which will only be available via auction.
“These are likely to include descriptive domain names such as insurance.ng, although the list of premium domain names has not yet been published. However the auction procedure also still needs to be finalised and we await clarity on this,” she remarked.
Ms. Stilwell advises organizations considering doing business in Nigeria to also register their trademarks, in the country, as third parties commonly attempt to register popular or valuable trademarks belonging to other bodies.
NIRA is also hosting a two-day Local Internet Content forum with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) to ensure the continuation of local internet content development and to slow the increasing usage of foreign domain names in Nigeria.
The Guardian Nigeria reports the chief executive officer of IXPN, Muhammed Rudman, has said though the .ng is Nigeria’s unique identity in the domain name world, people in the country predominantly adopt foreign domains such as .com and .co.uk because of misconceptions about the nation’s unique identity.
Mr. Rudman noted that the upcoming forum in Lagos, on April 25th and 26th, will address these misconceptions and will cover the nation’s identity in cyberspace as well as the emerging relevance of local hosting of content, which has a big impact on the economy.
If you are interested in applying for a .ng domain name, please speak to your Corporation Service Company (CSC) account manager or contact your customer service representative today.