By Emmanuel Elebeke

The Federal Government has given the final approved for the deployment of the phase 2  of National ICT Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Project of the Federal Secretariats across the country by Galaxy backbone limited.

According to him, the directive was to make sure that fibre cable is taken into the hinter land across the country.

The phase two of the project has been on-going with Galaxy Backbone Limited which earlier targeted March 2019 for overall completion of the project.

NICTIB is a Federal Government project that is delivered through Galaxy Backbone and financed with a China EXIM Bank facility.

The Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof. Mohammed Belo Abubakar disclosed this on Friday when the Emir of Gwombe, Alh. Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

Prof. Abubakr,  said that the critical national infrastructure deployed through Galaxy Backbone, the Government ICT services provider, connects all FGN secretariat complexes in the FCT and other parts of the country.

‘‘Now, we have linked Lagos to Bein-Onitsha- Owerri-PH-Calabar and Onotsha to Enugu-Makurdi-Akwanga-FCT. This is in addition to provide metro fiber in major cities across the country.

‘‘It is expected to bring economic benefits in line with 4th industrial revolution. In two to three years, we hope that the hinterland will be covered including Gwombe state,’’  he said.

The project, he said, interconnects with undersea fibre cables, provides an e-Government connectivity backbone and broadband Internet.

So far, he informed the Emir that the Optic Fibre connectivity phase one had sisnce been completed to run from Lagos- Ijebu-Ode-  Ore- Benin-City- Asaba-Onitsha, then From Onitsha-Owerri-PH-Akwa-Ibom-Cross River and from Onitsha –Enugu- Makurdi – Akwanga- Lafia – Abuja.

The Phase 2 which is underway will connect additional 22 cities which will cover the North East and North West states among others.

Apart from the NICTIB project, the Managing Director further said that Galaxy Backbone has been providing for e-Government for seamless services, which resulted into the novel virtual Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting recently introduced by the Federal government.

READ ALSO: Buhari presides over extra-ordinary FEC meeting

Recall that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy had suggested an option of virtual FEC meeting as a  way of cushioning the impact of the COVID-19 still ravaging the world economy and the federal government bought into it.

‘‘We  provide for e-Government for seamless services. Despite COVId-19, we made sure we provided government  all needed facilities for the virtual FEC meeting.’’

In his remarks, the  Emir of Gwombe, Alh. Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III  commended the management of Galaxy Backbone for providing backbone infrastructure to federal government, all its parastatals and across the country.

The Emir also saluted the courage of the agency in putting up the magnificent edifice at the Federal capital Territory, which he said would surely assist the agency meet its set objectives.

He encouraged the agency to sustain the effort and ensure that the fibre cable is taken to all nooks and crannies of the country in line with the vision of the present administration  to ensure a ubiquitous and seamless voice and data service delivery in Nigeria.

The courtesy visit to  provided the Emir opportunity to meet the executive Management team of galaxy backbone at the Corporate Headquarters in Wuse 2, where the MD intimated him on what Galaxy Backbone is doing not just in Abuja but for the entire nation.

It was also an wonderful opportunity for the Emir to see the extent of  what the agency is doing at the centre and at states across the country, as well as  what the agency has done for the past 14 years.

Also shared with him was about native infrastructure, how it permeates the country,  network monitoring and operation centre and Tire 3 data centre, the  National Shared Services Centre, government approved data centre. Also visited  was the Telepresence Room, where the agency do  video conferencing  with people from across organizations and countries.

The Emir was also taken to Network Monitoring and Operation Centre, where  monitoring of all government agencies that have their infrastructure  are hosted.

Vanguard