The Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has increased the number of domain names in the country to over 3,000 in less than six months…
The Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has increased the number of domain names in the country to over 3,000 in less than six months of its existence.
The chairperson of NiRA and chief executive of Amsco Telecom Limited, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu made this disclosure in Lagos in a chat, and said that this figure is expected to reach 1 million in the next 24 months.
‘Our hope is to move this figure to 1 million within the next 24 months,’ he declared. He noted that before the coming of NiRA management team in May this year, the number of domain names in the country was less than 1 000.
He also said that NiRA was aware that several Nigerian domains exist but were hitherto registered mostly with the international domain names. NiRA, he said, is a child of circumstance given birth to by the immediate past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Speaking on the challenges faced by NiRA, he pointed out that some people have tried to register fake companies, but NiRA has put some measures in place to safe guard against such attempts.
‘We have to verify every application before registering any name,’ Mr. Ndukwe asserted.
He explained that the main function of NiRA is to manage the nation’s Top Level Domain (TLD) .ng, as seen in every country nowadays, stressing that a domain name is like an address that facilitates a location of a given name on the Internet. ‘So, it is an address to locate an organisation or individual,’ he said.
Mr. Ndukwe also disclosed that NiRA is collaborating with the directorate of Cyber crime and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in order to curb the rise of Internet fraud emanating from the Nigerian-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
‘We have spoken to the directorate of cybercrime, alongside EFCC to resolve increasing Internet fraud, especially now that we have introduced due diligence initiative among the service providers,’ he said. According to Ndukwe, NiRA supports 100 per cent the prosecution of any fraudulent process.
He asserted that technically, there is scope to trace fraudulent electronic mail scams and NiRA is ready to ensure that Nigeria is put on a clean slate among its peers.
‘So, we intend to do that to give people comfort through cyber forensic,’ he reassured.
Source: By Remmy Nweke, from allafrica.com