By “Nigeria is losing digital value every single day, and most of us don’t really realise that each time a Nigerian business or a Nigerian government or a citizen of Nigeria, a resident of Nigeria, chooses a foreign domain over ‘.ng’, we are taking out a significant part of our digital economy offshore.”
This statement by the Chief Operating Officer of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mrs Oluwaseyi Onasanya warns that Nigeria is ceding control over domain space to another country.
Onasanya, who spoke during a presentation with the topic Macroeconomic Competitiveness of .ng said that “once you cede control, what it means is that you’re losing a part of your data sovereignty. You’re losing a part of your digital sovereignty as well as jurisdiction over the data that you have.”
According to her, it’s an economic issue which the media has a big role to play in ensuring that people understand the economic value of .ng saying that “we’ve seen that there are lots of myths and misconceptions now about .ng relative to the .com and the .com that we have. People feel, if I’m not on .com, then I’m not global. My business is not visible globally. I would not really be out there. Nobody will know that my business exists. Of course, we know that’s not true.”
She added, “In fact, if you even have .ng, your business is more visible, and there’s a lot of trust when you’re from the Nigerian space.”
Onasanya said countries that dominate the digital economy have strong adoption of their country code domains, driven by deliberate government policies noting that Nigeria’s domain penetration remains extremely low compared to global standards, despite its large population and internet usage.
According to her, digital sovereignty goes beyond internet access to include ownership and control of digital identity.
“If we do not own our digital identity, we are simply renting space in the global digital economy,” urgeding the media to frame .ng adoption as a national priority and drive conversations that influence policy and public behaviour.
The stakeholders emphasised the need for coordinated action to strengthen Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and global competitiveness.
In his welcome address, the President of NiRA, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, also warned that Nigeria risks “renting its digital future” if businesses and institutions continue to rely on foreign domain names saying that Nigeria’s growing digital economy was being built on external platforms, limiting control over critical digital infrastructure.
“Digital identity is not accidental; it is deliberately constructed and increasingly contested. If we do not take ownership, we risk building our digital economy on foundations we do not control,” he said.
He described the continued dominance of foreign domains such as .com and .org as a structural weakness, likening it to placing national assets under foreign jurisdiction adding that domain names determine visibility, credibility, and legal alignment in the digital space.
He added that the .ng domain represents Nigeria’s digital real estate and should be prioritised as a national asset ntoing that failure to adopt .ng weakens trust, limits economic retention and exposes businesses to external risks.
“In a time when users demand authenticity and security, local domains provide stronger assurance and reinforce national identity,” he said.
