I have seen .com.ng and other top level Nigerian domains being sold online for up to $150 per year. I think the actual retail price is probably about $25.

The main problems people have when registering these domains are:

1. DNS Issues - the secondary server MUST be in a physical location
quite separate from the primary, and that the two MUST be on completely
separate international backbone providers. (Most hosting facilities do not have this option)
2. Requirements for specific domains - RC Number required for .com.ng etc,

3. Administrative contact required in the company - email/phone/full name (company gets a phone call to confirm).
4. Company with a physical address in Nigeria

Items 1 can be sorted by either ordering a DNS service from http://darwindirect.net (currently N1000 per year) or by buying a hosting your intended .com.ng website there
Item 2 - make sure prequalify your clients in accordance with the list below:

[list]
[li]Schools granting baccalauriat degrees <name>.edu.ng[/li]
[li]Commercial <name>.com.ng (most have an RC number)[/li]
[li]Governmental entities <name>.gov.ng[/li]
[li]Not for profit organizations <name>.org.ng[/li]
[li]Network infrastructure (i.e. isp routers) only <name>.net.ng[/li]
[/list]


Get the right contact name, phone number and email address from your client, fill in this - http://psg.com/dns/ng/ng.txt and send to randy bush by email : randy@psg.com

You will get an OK reply in about 2 weeks if all is well.

The DNS Service on http://darwindirect.net cost only N1000 per domain per year = $6

Encourage your clients to register .ng it could be profitable.

Questions and insults welcomed!

Tim

so netzymes,

I just went to your ip4hotels website. I assume you developed the site or at least responsible for maintaining the site. If not, send this message to those who did:

I want to visit home this december. I did a general search (I chose no possible factors that could have limited the number of returned results) for hotels in Akwa Ibom state, but nothing got returned. Whatz up with that?

Perhaps a little of your "zymes" should be applied to the site to speed up the process I am actually very happy a site such as yours exists, but if I can't get the information I need, y shd I return/ever trust another site you have something to do with?

Thanks,

Dear my2cents,

Thanks for your reply.

I am sorry you did not find what you were looking for on the site.

Darwin are currently working on cataloging the hotels in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, which is a time consuming process as they also take the pictures and upload the files. Once this is done they will work on other states.
The Trust Issue - we visit most of the venues physically and go the extra mile to make sure that the content on the sites are correct. As far as projects I am involved with promoting - well the guys at Darwin have managed to make a success of what they do and have the trust of their clients. From what I can remember you are the first person to bring up the word trust when it comes to Darwin.

I will send some zymes to Darwin to speed up the process.

Regards

The statement about "trust" was actually a sarcastic one

Either way, thanks for the quick response. Now that I know whatz up, I can sleep better tonight

But b4 I go (I know, bear with me ), within the dropdown, why not disable states that don't have any data? So, in your DB query, you select where, say, hotel field isn't blank?

Just wondering

Dear my2cent,

Will pass the drop down issue on - thanks.

Regards

Tim

i've developed a website to facilitate the registration of .ng domain names for free, 100% free, but i'm yet to host it! as soon as its hosted, it will be announced!

Mind you all, its just about the same procedure, but it all makes it an easy process cos i have a database to store all entries for easy editing and updating or deletion in future!

I want to be a website domain and hosting reseller, Anyone with info send me on j.asemota@gmail.com, thanks

I think We nigerians  put up with second best, they treat us like animals and we accept it. The script that is being used for registration of .ng.com belong in the stone ages- it goes against not only current pratcise everywhere in the world, as well as basic economic sence and the principles of free markets. Why do we  need item 6j on the script, and why should registrant have to have a " real presence" in Nigeria. It's   a "contradition in terms"- The internet was created to provide "virtual presence". The whole idea o f the internet is to encourage coummunications or trade beyound national boundries.  Just ike  the .com, .co.uk et al domain names, any body who wants it should be able to get it - with minial registration fee, very minimal personal info  and ot beurcratic bottle necks at all- What a  waste, what a  wasted oppurtunity.

Your information is not correct. Please visit http://www.domaindirectors.com/domains/restrictions.htm. or http://www.domainthenet.com/eu_domain_help.html for .eu restrictions.

While restrictions are bad things for cybersquatters etc I certainly agree that there should be location restrictions. Can the process of registering the domain be faster - certainly, are the requirements problematic I dont think so.

Regards

Tim

WIth all due, respect, I don't know what point you are making, there are various examples out there, the best way is to choose which best  suits your situation, you can register .co.uk, .com from anywhere in the world, and you could be anybody.  In fact I have just registered another .co.uk, just for the hell of it,  intinternet doesn't require  RU  number of asked me if i had business or not or if  I live in the UK or not, or if my business real presence in Nigerian .As a matter  of interest, (1)how  many nigeriansNigeriansthink lives outside nigeria.(2Nigerianso you think it is sencesiblesensiblee them  from being able to register .com.ng name.(3)ngo you also think it is sensesible sensible millions of nigerians wNigeriansown businesses in mortar and bricks, even if they live in or ouside the outsidey.(4) Do you also think. (5)Can you tell me how exhustible exhaustiblere , meaning  is it possible to exhust the nuexhaustf  domians that cdomainsgistered,Can you imagine the share  economic glout that a vgloutt traffic of nigerian domaiNigerian  give the country of 100 million people-( the giant of africa Australia can afford to put retriction on the people that can register there domain names, The EU might. Nigeria certainly simply  does not have the luxury to follow those  exmaples, it  just does not make any kind of sence in the whole wide world-. In short it is unbelivableeeeee. . WWhy can we see that this is again a typical tragedy ,again that we can not make the best of things even if it's given to us free under our noses, what is the matter with us. How much billions  of Niira and pounds and dollars do you think  putting those restrictions on the script do you think the country would loose or is loosing in revenue, just from domain registration, never mind the spin offs. and how much is the country loosing every day that the whole domain issue remains unsolved . So what if I use  a domain name as vanity or trade mark, who does it hurt?. It is shapping up to a typical Nigerian palava.  The whole domain situation can be sorted out in one day- but then this is Nigeria. And it just  breaks your heart!!!

The current situation keeps cyber squatters at bay - if I want a domain for telephonesupport.com.ng I will probably get it without some teenager asking me for a kings ransom.

You seem to have it all worked out anyway so I am sure why you are complaining - you certainly get the job done sooner that I could - I cannot guarantee 3 days for a Nigerian domain name!

Your post from another thread: "Go to http://psg.com/dns/ng/ng.txt, fill the form in and send to jomoal99@yahoo.com
I will get it done for you in maybe 3 days. The most important parts are you contacts in nigeria and number (6j). If you can sort that out then you will have a .com.ng name in days"

-------
Regards

Tim

3 days if you can get the rc number - which is an unnecessary beuracratic bottle neck on  a process that should take seconds. Get me the authentic rc number and all other infobe/4 and you'll have telephonesupport.com.ng by next friday-for free!!1. my e-mail address jomoal99@yahoo.com. I got discouraged about the .com.ng situation that i've pulled my website crosscountry.com.ng- you would have been able to send the e-mail to Alex@crosscountry.com.ng.

Now I think i'll put it back on, years ago when I started working on .com.ng domains, the feeling was that nobody was interested. An those who was interested seems to be people who had neither the interest of the country at heart, no the basic knowledge about IT was running the show. I guess the positive thing is finding people like yourself and others on this brilliant forum who do not fall in to these catagories. But the fact still remains that the present scenarios is just terribly unacceptable,


By the way on my earlier post the spell check thing jumbed everything. I don't know what happened there

Web4Africa is registering .com.ng for free. http://www.web4africa.net
The catch? You host with us. You have no reason not to anyway.

Whats up with this business of always defending Randy Bush? For how long will we continue like this?

See, Nigeria (a population of over 130 million - conservative figure) has less than 2,000 .ng domains active. What are you talking about? For how long will we continue like this?

The process of .ng domain registration must be more democratized though I agree that it should be limited to Nigerians and entities with physical presence in Nigeria.

A single individual cannot continue to dictate the pace of our growth. We must make the system of .ng domain registration fully automated. They should charge for the service since they are incurring costs to provide service.

NO MORE FLIMPSY EXCUSES OR UN-SOLICITED DEFENCE OF A SYSTEM THAT CAN ME MADE BETTER.
(I'm getting angry by this guy's post)

I say - send a message to whoever is preventing us Africans from registering a domain using a name that was given to us by ICANN or whoever

If you can't register .com.ng, either register .com, .org, etc (which is probably what oyibo wants) or come up with the technology to enable us name, register and host our own domain names. When oyibo sees this, by law of demand and supply, demand for what he does will fall and so will his prices. In essence, he goes out of biz.

As long as we as Nigerians have this "How we go do now?" mentality, oyibo will always be taking advantage of us. On another note, it takes place even in the airline biz. Right now, it is cheaper to fly from the US to Egypt than it does to fly to Nigeria. Yet, especially this time of the yr, you need to look no further than the long lines, and pple checking in 13 pieces of luggage (at $175 per extra luggage ) at the int'l airlines to c that we are suckers for going home, especially during "high season". Typical responses to y they submit to such slavery is "how we go do now? I hv to go home". If we all decided not to go, or better yet Naija had a reliable airline that plied not just new york city, prices would definitely go down. Hey, it happened during the short-lived world airways years.

Ok, I am off my soapbox now. Sorry for switching lanes on you all like that, but hey, I just had to get it off my chest

Dear all,

The problem is a lot deeper than the registration process. We currently offer .com.ng domains for N1000 which is much cheaper than .com in Nigeria (We offer this for N1,750).

On several presentations, with larger clients, we have suggested the registration of .com.ng, and the reply was:

'we do not want people to know we are a Nigerian company'.

Strange considering the address and phone numbers on the site is Nigerian.

Our clients are generally well educated and traveled, so it does come as a surprise.

Smaller companies, our main target market, on the other hand are open to ideas.

Regards

netzymes:

,
On several presentations, with larger clients, we have suggested the registration of .com.ng, and the reply was:

'we do not want people to know we are a Nigerian company'.

Strange considering the address and phone numbers on the site is Nigerian.

Regards

Thats funny to me. It's a non-starter. In fact, I wrote an article about why folks should register .ng domains. See it here: http://www.web4africa.com.ng/why-register-.ng.php