Welcome to the CEO’s blog, a platform via which I will be sharing with you some of the exciting things we are doing at Galaxy Backbone, as well as my thoughts around the ICT ecosystem in Nigeria in general. I am glad to also welcome you to my maiden post.
As you know, Galaxy being the primary provider of bandwidth, connectivity and other ICT infrastructure services to Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government is unique in its positioning.
In our over a decade of existence we have scaled up our operations and platform to keep in touch with the cutting edge of technology so that we can adequately support government’s e-Government aspirations and also meet the ever widening connectivity and services needs of MDAs. This is why we built and operate the first and only Tier III certified Data Center in Abuja, with a cluster of Disaster Recovery sites that will be located geopolitical zones. Galaxy Backbone also owns the widest optical fibre metro network in Abuja connecting over 95% MDAs in Abuja and a high speed optical fibre backbone that will ultimately traverse almost all the states of the federation. Many Nigerian Universities will potentially benefit from this.
In recognition of the quality of services we provide, we have earned internationally recognized industry certifications like ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 20000. We have also received numerous awards from the United Nations, Nigerian Communications Week, Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria Internet Registration Agency, among others.
At Galaxy Backbone, we have put in place a deliberate policy for training and capacity building for young Nigerian students where we provide internships for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and also the National Youth Service Corp scheme. This is part of our desire to pay it forward, give back to society, and also contribute to nation building.
In furtherance of our desire to encourage the development of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M) in Nigeria, we intend to commence the institution of the Galaxy Backbone Award for best graduating student in S.T.E.M., an award that will be given to the graduating student with the highest CGPA in any applicable course that falls under S.T.E.M in one federal university in each of Nigeria’s geopolitical zone. This award is valued at NGN 150, 000 (One hundred and fifty thousand naira). A drop of sand in the ocean, but one we hope will encourage scholarship. In addition, the awardees get a tablet device/smartphone, and a plaque from us. We have nominated the following Universities for this:
1. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi
2. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
3. University of Abuja, Abuja
4. University of Benin, Benin City
5. University of Lagos, Akoka
6. University of Nigeria, Nsukka
This award will be presented at 3 consecutive convocation ceremonies, in the first instance, at each of the nominated institutions and I look forward to being at hand to do the honors. We are looking forward to this with so much excitement. I hope to meet some of you, great Nigerian students, at your convocation ceremonies.
Yusuf Z Kazaure