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Benjamin Babine, Abuja
Following the directive of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, Galaxy Backbone (GBB) has deployed Telepresence facilities at over 120 federal government institutions as part of efforts to limit physical meetings and promote functional social distancing in order to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
This was disclosed in a press statement signed by the spokeswoman of the Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, Mrs Uwa Suleiman.
The GBB utilised its highly secure government-wide telepresence and collaboration facilities to ensure government functions continue while maintaining social distancing. They have positioned their telepresence and collaboration facilities to ensure productivity, enhance security and reduce the cost of communication during this period.
Mrs Suleiman stated that the GBB has additional capacity to support more public and private institutions. In the statement, she said:
“At this critical stage of efforts to limit the spread of the COVID -19 in the country, the Federal Government is applying measures to safeguard its personnel, by using Telepresence facilities deployed by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE), through the Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited, a parastatal under the ministry.
“Video conferencing terminals have been installed at over 120 Federal Government institutions, including the offices of The Vice President, 26 Honourable Ministers, 17 Ministers of State, Chief of Staff to the President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, 37 Federal Permanent Secretaries, Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and Other key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.”
She went on to explain that calls and conferences will be secured with end to end encryption within GBB operated government network, saying that GBB also has the capacity to provide both public and private sector organisations secure and reliable telepresence services from its state-of-the-art Unified Communication Services (UCS) platform.
“In this regard, Nigerians are to rest, assured that the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy will continue to use technology to ensure that there are no interruptions in crucial government meetings. Virtual meetings will go ahead with all relevant stakeholders in a secure and reliable manner as we collectively tackle this challenge to humanity,” the spokeswoman added.
