Nigeria Internet Registration Association has recorded 241,000 active domains, with 98,285 new registrations, 71,470 renewals, and 1,970 restorations logged over the past year.
This comes as the association pushes to make .ng and .gov.ng domains the preferred internet standard across Nigerian institutions.
Nairametrics reported that NiRA President Adesola Akinsanya disclosed the figures on Monday in Abuja during a presentation of the association’s 2025 Annual Report and 2026 Business Plan to the National Information Technology Development Agency Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa.
The visit also served as a platform for the two organisations to reaffirm their commitment to strengthening collaboration on domain adoption nationwide.
Inuwa gave his full approval to NiRA’s 2026 initiatives and directed the association to work closely with NITDA’s e-Governance and Digital Economy Department for implementation and tracking.
NiRA President, Akinsanya said the past year’s progress went beyond registration numbers, with the association also implementing key security upgrades designed to improve the safety and resilience of Nigeria’s internet infrastructure.
“Beyond the numbers, NiRA also implemented important security upgrades, including the Domain Name System Security Extensions. This will ensure a more secure and resilient internet experience for local users, as well as improvements in registrar support and engagement,” he said.
“NiRA is intensifying efforts to make .ng and .gov.ng domains the preferred standards nationwide. We hope to have joint awareness campaigns and digital capacity-building initiatives to encourage adoption by state governments, local councils and public institutions,” he added.
On the association’s growth strategy, Akinsanya said NiRA is specifically targeting startups and aligning with technology events across the country to drive wider adoption.
“NiRA is looking into deeper stakeholder engagement and moving into areas where we see massive possibilities. We are specifically targeting startups and aligning with tech events across the country and with stronger collaboration, we can drive widespread adoption across every tier of government,” he said.
NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa backed the plan and called for tighter coordination between the two organisations going forward.
“You have my full approval for these initiatives. Let us change our strategy, sync up more closely and ensure everything we have agreed upon during this presentation is fully implemented by next year,” he said.
NiRA said it is also upgrading its internal systems, introducing automation, and reviewing its constitution in line with global standards to ensure sustainable growth.
The association described these internal reforms as part of a broader effort to position the .ng domain ecosystem for the next phase of expansion as Nigeria’s digital economy continues to grow.
Earlier, Nairametrics reported that the adoption of Nigeria’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD), .ng, has continued to decline despite sustained efforts by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) to promote local domain usage and recent government directives encouraging Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to embrace Nigeria’s digital identity.
Data from NiRA showed that registrations under the .ng domain stood at 179,420 as of May 2022, representing a 1% decline from the 181,176 recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The decline came despite years of advocacy aimed at increasing local domain adoption and strengthening Nigeria’s presence in the global digital ecosystem.
The .ng domain had recorded steady growth between 2018 and 2019, even as a significant number of Nigerian businesses, organizations, and institutions continued to host their websites on foreign domain extensions.
In response to the low level of local adoption, NiRA in 2019 set an ambitious target of reaching one million active .ng domain registrations within five years.
