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Buhari commissions national shared center
By Olusegun Oruame
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Abuja commissioned the new National Shared Services Centre (NSSC) managed by Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited; a one stop shop for management of cyber threats, delivery of digital infrastructure and related values to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as private sector operators.
The president who lauded the contributions of the digital economy sector for helping to create jobs and expand the country’s revenue base, said the federal government has earned about $547 million through auctioning of 5G spectrum to telecom operators.
RELATED: Prof Muhammad Bello Abubakar: My vision of a Galaxy Backbone that delivers on its mandate
He said the digital economy sector has contributed about 18.4% growth to Nigeria’s GDP according to the National Bureau of Statistics meaning that Nigeria is gradually rejigging its economy outside of complete dependency on crude oil export.
During the launch ceremony of the NSSC, the president alongside Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, officially flagged off the Five Million Microsoft High Demand Skills Training Program and the One Million Developer & Digital Skills Initiatives in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.
Also during the ceremony, President Buhari presented the Federal Government’s Seed Fund to ShapShap and FLOEWS ; two Nigerian startups that made the winning list at the GITEX GLOBAL, which held in Dubai, UAE last October.
Government remains committed to digital economy – Buhari
He said his administration remains committed to building capacity and entrepreneurship amongst young people as well as ensuring that ordinary Nigerians are able to benefit from the digital economy. These commitments underscored the suspension of the proposed 5% excise duty on telecom infrastructure, the adoption of national policy on virtual engagements for federal public institutions; and the enactment of the Startup Act.
His words: “We approved the national policy on virtual engagements for federal public institutions on October 14, 2020 and this enabled us to formalise government online meetings. As such, statutory meetings like the federal executive council meetings, council of state meetings, and other meetings can now take place online, effectively, and legally.”
Professor Pantami further expounded the president’s position. He said the digital economy sector has singularly reworked government economic vision, consistently grow the value of Nigeria’s GDP and enhance efficiency across sectors including education, public administration, security and healthcare among others.
Pantami: NSSC will deepen economic diversification
Pantami said the launch of the NSSC will further deepen government’s efforts at economic diversification as well as imbue speed and efficiency into capacity of MDAs to deliver on their statutory mandate.
The NSSC is modeled to provide shared services across MDAs and eliminate waste of resources. This offers cost saving and better agility to all MDAs in use of technology resources.
Abubakar: Centre offers enhanced capacity across MDAs
According to the MD/CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Professor Muhammad Abubakar, the centre will help grow Nigeria’s digital economy by provisioning the critical platform that private and public organisations need to host, operate and secure their technology infrastructure for service delivery. The centre provides a new window for effective cyber security management across MDAs and offers enhanced capacity for operational services across government agencies in order to better serve the citizens, Abubakar added. He said over 400 MDAs had already signed on as subscribers to the NSSC.
The new centre has been renamed the Muhammadu Buhari Galaxy Backbone Headquarters.
