NCC hands over Internet facility to Galaxy Backbone

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) handed over Internet provision infrastructure installed at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja to Galaxy Backbone on Thursday.

Galaxy Backbone will now manage and sustain the multimillion naira project that provides Internet services to all civil servants at the Secretariat.

The NCC is confident that the services are in good hands for the benefit of the civil servants, said NCC Vice Chairman Ernest Ndukwe during a visit with Galaxy Backbone CEO Gerald Ilukwe.

The project, initiated to facilitate and promote the use of ICT in Nigeria, commenced in 2006, prior to the existence of Galaxy Backbone, Ilukwe explained. The NCC board approved the hand over in line with Galaxy Backbone's mandate to coordinate the provision of ICT facilities for government agencies, he said.

"What we have got from NCC is unmatched in a relationship between two organizations of this nature in Nigeria," Ilukwe said. "We have done a joint inspection of the site. Huge investments have already been made, the facilities are high end, and government will have lots of benefits to derive from this infrastructure."

Ilukwe praised Ndukwe and the NCC for taking the necessary steps to ensure the broader use of ICT facilities in Nigeria, adding that the hand off will have a profound effect in empowering the public sector.

Galaxy Backbone is building its capacity to provide services to both the public and private sectors and will continue to improve on the infrastructure that the NCC has ceded, Ilukwe said.