Today, it is common for most Nigerians to use foreign domain names for their online transactions, but in this report, ADEYEMI ADEPETUN examines the imperativeness of using the country''s domain name, the .ng, for economic growth,security, among others.TODAY, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has changed the course of events. In the bureaucratic settings, it is fascinating to note that initiatives originate from a desk; prompt some actions and within seconds, expected and desired results are obtained without much human intervention.Also, there is awareness that ICT has ushered in a complete innovation in all sectors of the economy. For example, the banking sector has embraced e-banking and e-payment systems in order to achieve a cash-less society. The health sector has the telemedicine initiative. In the area of communication, e-mail has promoted cheap and faster global communication and interaction. In trade and investment, e-business and e-commerce are predominant.All over the world, there have been some tremendous landmarks in the conduct of government businesses by the adoption of e-governance in order to enhance improved service delivery in the Civil Service and also to reduce the amount of paper consumption.Arguably, these avenues of using the ''e-e-e-es', according to analysts in the ICT industry in Ngeria should be explored to facilitate the country''s journey to its desired destination.According to them, the ICT sector has been in the front burner of economic development and it has become highly imperative for government to give priority attention to the sector, an industry described as a catalyst for economic boom if well explored.Nigeria''s Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson once said the ICT sector accounted for 3.5 per cent of Nigeria''s Gross Domestic Product, compared with 10 per cent for South Africa. This, according to her, can improve, if the various opportunities in the sector are fully explored.Johnson, who affirmed then that, enormous opportunities still abound in the voice, data (Internet) and in the e-business circle of the sector, noted recently at the workshop organized to fast track the adoption of Nigeria''s domain name, the .ng, that, one other area in the sector that needs government attention is facilitating the adoption and usage of the country''s top level domain name for government and business purposes in the country.Only recently, The Guardian''s investigation had revealed low adoption of the country''s domain name.The Guardian learnt that despite the repeated calls and intensive campaigns, over 70 per cent of most Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), corporate organisations and non-governmental bodies were yet to comply with government''s directive on the need to migrate to Nigeria''s domain name, the .ng.It was learnt that only 35 per cent of the nation''s MDAs had complied with the directive while 90 per cent of companies and organisations operating in the country were indifferent to the directive.The Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria Internet Registration Agency (NiRA), Mr. Ope Odusan, also said that there had been low response since the directive was given last year.Odusan reckoned that aside the domain name earning the country a formal identification on the web; it also provides the country opportunity to generate more revenue and create jobs.He said NiRA''s targets of 250,000 domain names in the .ng registry would contribute N250 million yearly to the economy, adding that the body has the potential to create over 50,000 jobs directly and indirectly for Nigerians.Reports had it that, in 2009, Austrian top-level domain name the .AT contributed over '13.5 million to the Austrian economy, with the contribution growing each year.Indeed, to boost adoption in Nigeria, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and NiRA organized a sensitisation workshop in Abuja, on the need to ensure usage of Nigeria''s top-level domain name.According to the Minister of Communications Technology at the forum, the ''utilisation of the .gov.ng domain name by all MDAs and corporate organisations in the country is a critical step in the implementation of the country''s e-governance strategy.'She said a mass migration to the .ng domain by the MDAs and other Nigerians ''will ensure the implementation of the first step in the country''s e-governance strategy aimed at connecting government within itself and with the citizens of Nigeria on a safe common platform that will increase local traffic and thus reduce the overall cost of governance.'Johnson explained that the .ng domain name is a national resource and a unique identifier for every Nigeria on the World Wide Web, while .gov.ng is exclusively preserved to be used by all government MDAs.The minister hinted that about 40,000 .gov.ng email accounts had been created for all principal officers, permanent secretaries, heads of parastatals, directors and other management staff of various MDAs in order to make affairs of government run more securely within the national domain space and guard against wastage of resources.In the areas of security, the minister said official email addresses ending in .gov.ng are much more secured than those addresses obtained from the freely available Internet mail services.She posited that if the traffic emanating from Nigeria were contained in the secured government domain of .gov.ng, the activities of the Internet criminals could be reduced to the barest minimum, as it is safer, adding that as most of the offices are in unsecured domain it is thus difficult to defend any allegation against Nigeria on fraudulent Internet activities.To the Director General of NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, the time to adopt a uniform flag in the cyber space by Nigerians was now, as ''a larger proportion of the current global economy is online based.He said it was important to ensure Nigeria participates in the cyber space by increasing ''our local content and advancing the patronage of made in Nigeria ICT products.'According to him, the Nigerian internet users have grown from two million in 2005 to over 44 million, which puts the country as one of the fastest growing internet user in sub-Saharan Africa, by so doing, while this present an opportunity to grow the economy at a geometric progression, it is also important to ensure the security of Nigeria''s Cyberspace.Angaye observed that the critical role of ICT in modern economies across the globe has made it expedient for countries to fly their flags and actively participate in the cyber space, adding that every effort to make Nigeria an integral part of the new trend must be harnessed for national development.He urged all MDAs and other corporate organisations in the country to embark on the development of public service-focused software for accounting system, personnel management, budgetary matter, identity management and data integration, among others.Implementing compliance with government domain name policy, according to Lazarus Ikoti, an official of NITDA, is based on the provision of the Act, stressing that, the agency shall advise the Federal Government generally on matters that are related to the management and administration of Nigeria''s ccTLD.Ikoti said while NITDA has greater roles to play in the supervision and management of .ng ccTLD, the compliance will aid the country''s drive towards becoming a leading economy globally.But, if Nigeria''s top-level domain name must be functional, it is imperative to have a working infrastructure in the country.This was the submission of the Manager, Data Centre and Hosted Services at Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Nosike Agusiegbe, who also posited that in utilising existing relationships with the MDAs, Galaxy Backbone is primarily focus on engaging technical and administrative decision makers.Agusiegbe said the agency is working with the Ministry of Communication Technology on Sensitization as well as Change Management for DNS and registry migrations for MDAs and other corporate organizations in the country.In a recent chat with The Guardian, the president of NiRA, Mrs. Mary Uduma said the growth of .ng domain names (increased uptake) at both local and international scene will have the same effect on the economy as the mobile explosion, in that ancillary jobs would be created in advertisement, web designing and hosting, there would be foreign exchange earnings from sales of .ng domain names to foreigners.Uduma, who linked low adoption in Nigeria to lack of awareness of the domain name business, hinted that the .ng domain name is accepted anywhere in the world and it is Nigeria''s unique identity in the cyberspace, adding that, there are no issues, save for Nigerians to embrace and own the .ng sting as the preferred brand in domain name registration, as well as a critical resource for the nation.She revealed that NIRA runs the technological infrastructure which locates a computer on the Internet that hosts a website or e-mail when you request, send or receive information to or from addresses that end with ''.ng'.Elucidating more on the importance of using a country''s domain name, a consultant who spoke at the forum, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola said there are 324 Top Level Domain names (TLDS), but that only five can be used by anyone and these are .com; .net; .bus; .org and .info.Ajijola, who pointed out that out of the 324 TLDS, 291 are country codes, said that 42,000 domain names have so far been registered in Nigeria.
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