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A Case for .ng Domains

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Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr
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Quite frankly, it is very amazing that a country with close to 100 million or more (depending on whose data you choose to use) has sold less than 100,000 .NG domains to local and international buyers. I find it to be a very interesting irony especially when I look at the numbers of .co.za domains that South Africa has been able to push out to the world.

May I ask why Nigerians are avoiding to use .NG domains? Who is to blame or is that we believe the .NG is not good enough or don’t just understand its importance to our national brand or we probably need some sort of Government policy to make it somewhat compulsory?

Pardon me for asking too many questions at the same time, I am simply looking for answers.

Yes, I am a .ng ambassador ordained by NiRA – the association responsible for managing the string and part of my National service is to get more Nigerians to use this domain string. Yes, I get to convince some to switch but a vast majority of people give me all sorts of reason, why they won’t use .NG and some of these reasons are simply based on hearsay or emotions.

If you are reading this post and you do have a domain, I’d like you to share why it is not a .NG brand?

Again, let me stress that the bane of any proper and sustainable development especially in technology is the creation and enforcement of policies.

Imagine, if we had a policy that clearly states that every registered company in Nigeria must use .NG and so as companies are being registered, CAC mandated them to choose and pay for a domain name which they must use. We know this is not an impossible feat, after all UK and a few other countries are enforcing such policies whether covertly or overtly.

Reasons to use .NG
It is a matter of Nation Pride
Nigeria as a Nation is blessed with a unique domain string known as .NG which is her country code top level domain (ccTLD) and we should be proud of this gift of nature.

Foreign Exchange is Scarce
I used to be happy paying for my VPS server but not anymore because of the ever increasing exchange rate and the same goes for .COM domain names. Using the .NG range of domains will contribute to saving our scarce FX.

SEO & Speed
Why do you think that Google would rather serve you results using google.com.ng when you search for stuff within Nigeria and if you travel to say Ghana and use the same device it will go ahead and serve you results via google.com.gh – what is even interesting is that in the case of Nigeria, Google has both com.ng as well as .NG, an example of a forward looking company.

Local Content
We must develop local content by supporting what is ours, imagine what will happen if only 1% of the reported 170 million+ Nigerians decide to own domains that fly the Nigerian colour online, that will be over 1 Million domain names that would eventually serve as the foundation for businesses, ventures and causes on the world wide web. Would that not further strengthen the Nigerian brand and dignify her on the Internet?

I must commend Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) for a good job so far but here is a call for more advocacy and education so as to get more Nigerians to appreciate what is ours and also get Government to lead the way and let others follow.

The reality is that if Government at any level still uses .com or .org domains, why should average small business owners, who obviously do not have as much resources as Government be urged to switch?

CFA is the founder of www.techsmart.ng and co-producer/presenter of Tech Trends on Channels TV.

 


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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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