Africa’s Internet pioneer, Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, has underscored the urgent need for the continent’s internet institutions and governments to shift focus from what he described as excessive attention to governance theories to strengthening operational and technical capacity.
He warned that Africa risked undermining the sustainability of its critical digital infrastructure if it continued to prioritise policy discussions over the hands-on expertise required to operate and secure the Domain Name System (DNS). “You cannot govern what you have not built,” he stressed.
Speaking at a DNS forum held in Accra yesterday, Prof. Quaynor said the continent’s digital resilience hinged on building a technically competent workforce capable of managing modern DNS technologies, including DNSSEC, DNS-over-HTTPS, and advanced cryptographic systems. Many countries and institutions, he noted, still lacked the expertise needed to maintain stability as the internet ecosystem evolved.
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The computing pioneer also observed that although Africans excelled in diplomacy and business, the continent’s technical competence remained weak, posing long-term risks to innovation and security. Too many organisations, he stated, continued to invest in governance workshops and conferences while their operational teams struggled with inadequate training, outdated equipment, and minimal redundancy in infrastructure design. This imbalance, he argued, undermined the reliability of Africa’s internet services and weakened its position in the global digital environment.
Prof. Quaynor cited findings from a recent ICANN study showing that Africa registered only 4.4 domain names per 1,000 people, far below the global average of 45 per 1,000. Ten country-code top-level domains, he added, accounted for 92 per cent of all domain registrations on the continent, a pattern he said reflected a limited and unevenly developed DNS market. This, he mentioned, showed that Africa was “not yet a full stakeholder” in the global DNS ecosystem.
For her part, President of the Africa Top Level Domains Organisation (AFTLD), Mrs Eyitayo Iyortim, underlined that the DNS must be recognised as a strategic anchor for Africa’s development. Without a strong, reliable and locally driven DNS ecosystem, she disclosed, the continent could not fully realise its aspirations in e-commerce, e-governance, digital identity, and technological innovation. She noted that many people underestimated the importance of DNS, forgetting that even global technology giants depended on domain names to maintain their online presence. The DNS, she emphasised, was not merely a technical protocol but “the backbone that enables digital services to function.”
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The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Mr Samuel Nartey George, reaffirmed government’s commitment to strengthening Africa’s DNS resilience, describing it as central to the continent’s digital sovereignty and economic transformation. He said the forum reflected a shared continental aspiration to shape Africa’s digital future according to its own realities. Hosting the forum in Accra, he added, demonstrated Ghana’s commitment to a secure, inclusive digital economy supported by investments in connectivity, cybersecurity, local content development, data centres, and internet exchange points.
