Galaxy plc key to cost-effective MDA deliveries – Johnson

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has said that Galaxy Backbone plc is key to delivery of cost effective Information Technology (IT) for the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

Speaking at a public forum on Information Security recently at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, saying that it would also create efficient shared IT services across government.

Mrs. Johnson said that this is in line with global trends and recent technological developments, citing an instance of cloud computing and constraints the global financial and economic crisis has placed on governments IT budgets.

The Minister noted that governments all over the world are promoting the concept of shared IT services which aligns with one of the mandates of the Ministry of Communications Technology, which is to drive transparency in governance and improve the quality of public service delivery.

Mrs. Johnson further said that the adoption of technology usage in driving governance and productivity by government MDAs has witnessed some form of growth, but decried the situation where individual MDAs are deploying ICT infrastructure that is better deployed through a more effective pooling of financial and human resources.

“A selected aggregation of individual IT spend plans for MDAs have revealed that N4.5bn will be spent on data centres in the coming year despite the fact that we have within government an IT organization that is positioned to deploy and deliver these services at a lower costs and to higher standards evidenced in the achievement that Galaxy Backbone is celebrating today” she said.

Additionally, she said that the concept of shared IT services is laudable because of the immense cost savings, efficiency and capabilities that this model has been proven to deliver.

“The Nigerian government should of course be no different and Galaxy Backbone will be key to the delivery of more cost effective and efficient shared IT services across government,” she declared.

As said by her, this makes the ISO certification even more laudable and a very important milestone in the leveraging of ICTs for better governance and transparency.

Remmy Nweke

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