A committee of experts chaired by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost), Professor Muhammadou M. O. Kah to review the performance of Galaxy Backbone, a key Federal Government Private Company and ICT service provider, has submitted its report on March 20, 2020.
Inaugurated three days earlier by the Honorable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the committee was charged with the task of reviewing the performance of Galaxy Backbone in order to identify its weaknesses and propose improvements to position the Agency as a vehicle to provide Government’s infrastructural needs toward implementing the e-Government Master Plan. Among the Committee’s terms of reference were the review of Galaxy Backbone’s mandate executions and challenges as well as its service delivery and project execution.
The Committee was also charged with recommending ways of improving the company’s effectiveness, efficiency and quality of service while identifying other challenges and areas that require improvement.
Galaxy Backbone was established in 2006 by the Nigerian Federal Government to coordinate shared ICT service platforms consisting of VSAT hubs, Data Centers, FCT Metro Fiber Networks, fiber backbones and multiple internet gateways for Government.
The concept was to help reduce and eventually eradicate the silos that had been in existence in Government as a result of the incoherent and expensive manner in which technology operations were delivered across MDAs, according to the Honorable Minister’s letter of appointment dated March 13, 2020.
Other Committee members are: Ms. Rakiya Mohammed, Vice Chairperson (Central Bank of Nigeria); Rev. Sunday Folayan (General Data Engineering); (SKANNET); Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu (Grand Central); Mohammed Kabir Salihu (NITDA, Gombe); Naziru Izegwire (CompuData); and as Secretary, Nasiru Sulaiman (Galaxy Backbone).