Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) is the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Dr Pantami obtained a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science (B.Tech), from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), and proceeded to acquire two Masters Degrees from the same institution in quick succession. One in Computer Science (MSc) and the other, an MBA in Technology Management with flying colours. 
Galaxy Backbone is the information technology and shared services provider of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It has been about a decade since its inception. During those past few years, technology has changed significantly across Nigeria. These can be seen and felt not just in the private sector of the country, but across the public sector agencies and institutions in which Galaxy Backbone was set up to enable and deliver technology services to. Our initial major directive when we commenced operations in 2006 was to help reduce and completely eradicate the silos that had been in existent in government as a result of the diverse and expensive manner in which technology operations were delivered across the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. We were also charged with the responsibility of building a common services platform consisting of in-country and offshore VSAT hubs, a datacenter, a Federal Capital metro fiber backbone and multiple redundant internet gateways. A substantial amount of work has been done in this regard and recognizable impact noticed across the federal government agencies. While we can state there has been a lot of improvement in the way government communicates with government; with businesses, the international community and the entire citizenry, we believe there is still a lot more to be done.
Being part of a global community in which technology changes almost at the speed of light, and considering that Galaxy Backbone plays a key role in the development and deployment of technology initiatives and services in government, we had to evolve with the changing trends in technology which has also led the Nigerian government to develop a master plan for E-government in Nigeria to be achieved by the year 2020. The overall purpose of this agenda, being to, 'strengthen the transparency, the efficiency and quality of public administration service in Nigeria'. In reaching this vision for the nation, Galaxy Backbone plays a pivotal role in its implementation and the thought leading drive that would eventually see it come to fruition.
The investments being made in building a shared services platform across the nation, the converged infrastructure aimed at cost reduction and enhancing government efficiency and managing the Government Cloud infrastructure by Galaxy Backbone are efforts being made to strengthen and deliver on the e-government initiatives of the country.
We are changing the way we conduct our operations and becoming more service oriented and customer focused. We believe we are better positioned to help the public agencies and institutions we serve attain their technology objectives.
In recognition of some of the notable work we have done across government institutions in Nigeria over the past few years, Galaxy Backbone was in 2013, recognized by the United Nations with the public service awards for Promoting Whole Of Government Approach in the Information Age. An award which we share with similar organizations like ours operating in more technologically enabled countries of the world.
As we look into the future we are championing the digitalization of government processes and institutions and working seriously through our focused team of service professionals and visionary leaders to create a smarter government which would in turn create smart communities, cities and a more vibrant technology enabled nation.
