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<div>Loud applause......</div><div><br></div><br><div><div>On 19 May 2009, at 13:56, Anne-Rachel Inné wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=143666">http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=143666</a><br></div><div> <br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px;">Nigeria Attains Full Control of .ng ccTLD</h2> <tt style="color: black;">By Efem Nkanga, 05.18.2009</tt><p align="justify">The Nigerian Internet community has effected the redelegation of the .ng ccTLD and attained full local management of the domain. The President, Internet Registration Association of Nigeria , Engr Ndukwe Kalu, disclosed this in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday.<br>Ndukwe stated that Nigeria had for long sought for full control which if finally attained at ‘’exactly 4pm GMT May 13, 2009, when Verisign made the ICANN approved root server changes to the .ng ccTLD, a few hours later ICANN/IANA effected the board approved redelegation of the Nigerian ccTLD on the IANA website’’ He reiterated that ‘’This effectively brings to an end the long drawn desire and expectation of the Nigerian Internet community to effect redelegation of the .ng ccTLD and full local management’’.<br>Ndukwe went down memory lane and disclosed that the .ng ccTLD journey started in 1995 with the first delegation to one of Mrs Ibukun Odusote as the then admin contact. He added that by 2004 with the intervention of the former president of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the Nigerian Internet community represented by the G22 reached a consensus on a not for profit all inclusive body to manage the .ng ccTLD. With the formation and final election of the NIRA executive board in May 2007 the stage was then set for conclusion of the redelegation process and fully localize the management of the ng cc TLD<br>He added that the attempt to obtain full control met with a lot of challenges because as a totally new entity the executive had to concentrate on putting in place the required structure and infrastructure that would sustain the .ng ccTLD. He added that the efforts has however paid off because the .ng ccTLD would now be offering its domains in the ccTLD with the most robust technical infrastructure in Africa . The .ng ccTLD according to him is the only ccTLD with multiple anycast name servers offering local resolutions of .ng domain in over 40 cities in five continents with a 100% uptime guarantee. He reiterated that apart from that Nigeria is the second country in Africa to have a fully automated registry with full EPP access making it of global standard that allow registrars from all over the world to interact with it. Now with the Nigerian registry anyone can register a .ng in seconds and be sure that the name would always be available and visitors to the websites would get translations of the domain names in over 40 local cities making for better web experience.</p><p align="justify">Ndukwe added that this was a defining moment for the Nigerian Internet community and Nigerians. He added that the redelgation makes NIRA the sponsoring organization and manager of the .nccTLD bringing the .ng as desired to the greater participation of all stakeholders both government and private sector. He stressed that it has also accorded the former head of NITDA the late Prof Ajayi a new peace as one of his key desires comes to pass and his name is rested from the IANA website. According to him, with the change NIRA has deemphasized personalization of the domain managers but rather has used roles with the admin contact as the role of NIRA President.</p><p align="justify"> He also emphasized that the issue NIRA has to grapple with now is that of the full population of the .ng ccTLD, a task which he described as very daunting because of the primary reason that all of the African ccTLDs put together cannot make the ccTLD Top 25. He stated that for an Information Age where the main asset is knowledge, a firm presence in cyberspace cannot be overemphasized. According to him NIRA is set to tackle this challenge by massively pursuing the population of the .ng ccTLD. It would start this quest by coming out with key projects to achieve this. The vision of NIRA is domiciled in making Nigeria to make the ccTLD top 20 by year 2011. He emphasised that this vision is not just for the sake of making the top 20 but to positively impact the Nigerian economy because with the development of the Nigerian cyberspace countless opportunities would be born for both the state and citizens.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">AfrICANN mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:AfrICANN@afrinic.net">AfrICANN@afrinic.net</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann">https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann</a></div> </blockquote></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div>Eric M.K Osiakwan</div><div>Director </div><div>Internet Research</div><div>www.internetresearch.com.gh</div><div><a href="mailto:emko@internetresearch.com.gh">emko@internetresearch.com.gh</a></div><div>42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North</div><div>Tel: +233.21.258800 ext 7031</div><div>Fax: +233.21.258811</div><div>Cell: +233.24.4386792</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span> </div><br></body></html>