Members of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the registry for .ng Internet Domain Names and managers of the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain, have elected Mr. Adesola Akinsanya and Mr. Murtala Abdullahi as the new President and the Vice President, respectively.
They were elected on Friday, April 28, 2023, during NiRA’s 15th Annual General Meeting
(AGM) held at “The Zone”, Gbagada, Lagos State. Prior to his election, Mr. Akinsanya was a member of the Executive Board of NiRA under the leadership of Mr. Muhammed Rudman, the immediate past president (IPP). Members also elected officials to fill vacant positions on the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the Executive Board of Directors (EBoD). Elected to NiRA BoT are Mrs. Mary Uduma; Mr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u; Mrs. Ibukun Odusote; Mr. Remmy Nweke, and Mr. Biyi Oladipo. While Mr. Ebenezer Dare; Mr. Seun Kehinde; and Mr. Peter Oluka were elected as members of the EBoD.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Adesola Akinsanya, expressed gratitude and immense appreciation to the members for electing him as president. “This is a call to greater service, and I promise to justify the confidence reposed in me” he affirmed. Akinsanya, a Director at Upperlink Limited, had expressed in his manifesto, that he would employ winning formula: people, processes, performance, and accountability, to continue repositioning NiRA for greater success. He focused on a few key areas such as improved Registry-Registrar relationship, stating his strong belief that “the relationship between the Registry and Registrar can be deepened thereby making it a win-win
situation”, and promising improved incentives for Registrars which, according to the new president, would lead to mutual growth.
He also promised to expand NiRA’s outreach with more engagements with Local and international industry players: “As your president, I pledge to push for more of NiRA’s engagements within the local and international ecosystem and other industry partners.
This is very important because it fosters the bond with such players thereby giving NiRA more exposure to the internet communities. Also, collaboration with government and regulatory bodies would facilitate policy development thereby leading to increased adoption of .ng domains. Industry partners include ICANN, AFRINIC, IGF, AFTLD, etc.
The President also promised increased capacity building for NiRA members, non-members, and Registrars through NiRA’s Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV). “I will make sure we fully utilize NiRA’s SPVs (.NG Academy and Ndukwe Kalu Foundation) for the purpose of capacity building/ training for NiRA members and the Registrars by providing scheduled webinars on relevant industry topics.
With regard to Brand Awareness and Collaboration, he stated that he would “push for more NiRA brand awareness by collaborating with the Registrars”. Other areas of focus include the signing of the .ng ccTLD zones and strategic stakeholder management. Akinsanya craved the support of members to make NiRA a success story for the entire continent and beyond.
NiRA is a Not-for-Profit, Non-Governmental Self-Regulating body, and managers of the.ng national resource, the country code Top Level Domain(ccTLD) namespace in the public interest of Nigeria and global internet communities.
NiRA adopts the 3R (Registry/Registrar/Registrant) model of operation in the registration of domain names. The implication of this is that NIRA does not handle the registration of domain names directly. Registration can only be carried out through NIRA-accredited Registrars.
NiRA currently has over 100 Certified Registrars. For more information, visit: www.nira.org.ng and to register a .ng domain, please visit www.register.ng
