The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has mandated Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to implement Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), announcing that compliance will form part of its cybersecurity assessment protocol.
The directive is aimed at strengthening the security of government-owned domains, protecting digital infrastructure against domain name system (DNS) manipulation and improving trust in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.
Speaking at a Cybersecurity Awareness Webinar organised by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) through its .ng Academy, NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, represented by Oluwasegun Falayan, said securing government domains must become an integral part of cybersecurity architecture.
The webinar, themed “Securing Nigeria’s Digital Foundation: DNSSEC, the .ng Domain, and the Future of National Cyber Resilience,” was held as part of activities marking Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
“We must lead, we must ensure that every .gov.ng is signed as much as possible, and we provide DNS as an inclusion in every security assessment that we do,” Inuwa said.
“So it’s not enough to just have a domain, but it must be secured and must be signed.”
He stressed that digital security extends beyond physical infrastructure to protecting the country’s online presence, adding that NITDA would provide an enabling environment for wider DNSSEC adoption.
NiRA President, Adesola Akinsanya, said Nigeria must prioritise the security and reliability of domain names rather than pursue registration growth without adequate protection.
DNSSEC uses digital signatures to enable validating DNS resolvers to verify that domain name responses are authentic and have not been tampered with. However, Akinsanya cautioned that improper configuration could make domains inaccessible to users whose resolvers validate signatures, underscoring the need for technical competence and coordinated implementation.
He cited figures indicating that Nigerian organisations faced an average of about 4,361 attempted cyberattacks weekly in June, compared with a global average of approximately 2,270, according to Check Point. He also referenced Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reports of ₦25.85 billion in digital-payment fraud in 2025, warning that under-reporting could obscure the true scale of the problem.
“DNS security is not a technical hobby. It is an economic question,” Akinsanya said.
He called on government institutions to review domain ownership, strengthen account security with multi-factor authentication and establish clear procedures for responding to unauthorised changes. Internet service providers were also urged to enable DNSSEC validation, while registrars and businesses were encouraged to improve adoption and verify whether their domains were properly signed.
During a panel discussion, Daniel Onyekpeze, Head of Incident Handling at the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), proposed an Executive Order to recognise DNSSEC as part of Critical National Information Infrastructure protection. He advocated implementation across sectors, including financial services, with appropriate technical safeguards.
Abubakar Mahmud, an IT and Cybersecurity Officer at the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, highlighted the security risks associated with data exposure, while SP Kuma Ikyereve of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre identified phishing as a leading category of cybercrime cases.
Lateef Hamzat, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CyberPlural, observed that cyberattacks were increasingly shifting from individual targets towards systems and infrastructure.
Participants agreed that expanding DNSSEC adoption would strengthen Nigeria’s digital trust framework, provided implementation was properly managed.
Akinsanya emphasised that NiRA manages the .ng registry but relies on collaboration with government agencies, registrars, internet providers and businesses to secure the wider DNS ecosystem.
The stakeholders called for coordinated action to make DNSSEC adoption a practical component of Nigeria’s cybersecurity strategy, ensuring that the growth of the .ng domain is matched by stronger security and reliability.