Nigeria’s code top-level domain (ccTLD), the .ng, has not attained stability with data showing continued fluctuation in its adoption and usage pattern.

Indeed, as of March 2025 and almost 20 years after the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) was created, birthing the .ng, data showed that adoption is still at about 231,556.
Data from NiRA showed that in January, there were 9,591 registrations, 8,339 renewals and 215 restorations, which amounted to 234,083. In the same month in 2024, the total figure was 215,496 and it was 184,425 in 2023. For February 2023, the figure was 185, 461; in 2024, .ng saw 217,527 adoptions and in 2025, it was 232,853.  In January 2023, the total figure was 189, 158; 221,017 in February and 231,556 in March.

For emphasis, a domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet protocol. The right to use a domain name is delegated by domain name registrars accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the international organisation charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet.    

The ccTLD .ng domain name is Nigeria’s identity in cyberspace, which has the .ng as the suffix of every official email address that originates from Nigeria. In the United Kingdom, all official email addresses end with .co.uk, in the United States of America, they end with .com/.usa, while in South Africa, official email addresses end with .co.za.

The .ng is 0.000504353 of the world’s 365.5 million registered and functional ccTLD. This is despite the country’s over 200 million population and about 160 million Internet users.

As of last year, The Guardian’s check on the African region showed that South Africa, with a 60.4 million population, had 1.25 million registered and active .za and Kenya’s population at 53.7 million, had 93,446 registered .ke users.

Many factors have been adduced for the slow traction earned by .ng since its inception. These include Nigerians’ preference for foreign products, the high cost of the domain name and the unwillingness of some registered Nigerian businesses to move online.

The President of NiRA, Sola Akinsanya, in an interview with The Guardian last year, said the forex crisis was driving the adoption of the domain name in the country. Akinsanya explained that globally there has been a decline in domain name adoption and ccTLDs too are not equally spared, they are also affected.

“So, what is driving the growth we are seeing on this side is the exchange rate, because if you look at the Nigerian economy now, the exchange rate has equally gone up. The amount for those on the other TLDs, I mean the .com; .net, among others has gone up significantly.

“So, the situation now is you either adopt the .ng (which is far lesser) and the amount is cheaper with naira availability or you rather start looking for a dollar that is scarce and expensive, which you might not equally get and the rate of renewal of the global TLD domain platforms are equally very high. So, that alone is making people adopt more of the .ng.”

Further, he said inflation has gone up, equally making so many people adopt .ng. Akinsanya said NiRA is equally doing more capacity building and awareness, saying the body is spending a lot to get this done and ensure .ng gets more visibility because it is a natural result, which gives more value like the .com and others.

According to him, the MDAs are gradually seeing the light, largely due to the intervention of the Federal Government through NITDA, which ensures that there is a training once every quarter, for all MDAs in the country to make sure that they are on the .gov.ng domain name.

The NiRA president said the greatest challenge to the adoption of Nigeria’s domain name remains patriotism.