By Emma Okonji
The federal government has said it will support Galaxy Backbone towards the attainment of digital inclusion in order to meet government’s aspiration for a digitally inclusive society.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who made the disclosure in Abuja recently, said: “Government acknowledges the role Galaxy Backbone is playing in the digitisation of the public sector and it deserves government support.”
Shittu whose Ministry of Communications supervises Galaxy Backbone Ltd, said the company has the mandate to build and operate a nationwide broadband network that provides IP-based connectivity services to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and institutions of the federal government.
According to him, “Galaxy Backbone is focused on providing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, applications and services to all government MDAs and institutions, which include managing government data centers and databases, directory services, national information repositories, IP-telephony and other solutions/services delivered on the shared platform.”
Speaking at African regional forum in Abuja, Shittu thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for actively supporting the Ministry of Communications and Galaxy Backbone Ltd who partnered Extensia Ltd of UK to host the Innovation Africa Digital Summit 2016 in Abuja for the first time. He said Nigeria’s hosting of the summit at this time was most significant due to the fact that the present government in Nigeria was the first government since the country’s independence to win election by leveraging the benefits of the ICT, and social media in particular.
“The time has come for the government and Nigerians to fully embrace ICT to enhance our lives, to enhance transparency and good governance if we really are to achieve the ‘Change Mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Galaxy Backbone Ltd is a public institution charged with building and operating shared ICT Infrastructure and services for all federal government.
The establishment of Galaxy Backbone by the Federal Government was driven by the need for Government to pursue a cohesive and harmonised approach to information and communications technology acquisition, deployment and utilisation in the public sector.
