Minister inaugurates Northeast Galaxy Backbone Office in Gombe
By Peter Uwumarogie
Prof. Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, on Friday inaugurated the North East Regional Office of Galaxy Backbone in Gombe. Speaking at the ceremony, Pantami said the project would benefit the entire six states in the region.
Pantami said that the centre would improve digital economy, provide job opportunities and enhance cybersecurity.
According to him, with the contributions of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), having the centre in the region would help consolidate the gains of the digital economy.
He said that the Gombe Centre was part of the phase two of the National Information and Communications Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Project.
Pantami explained that the NICTIB 2 covers 18 states in the North and two states from Southern part of the country that were not captured in the NICTIB 1.
The minister said the digital economy sector had supported the Federal Government’s effort at diversifying the economy.
“For many years, most probably 50 years, Nigeria relied so much on oil and gas.
“But today, we have reached a situation where the contribution of ICT to our gross domestic products in Nigeria is almost three times the contribution of oil and gas to the country’s GDP.
“In the last three years, we have set up three unprecedented records with regards to ICT contributions to GDP,” Pantami said.
He explained that in the first quarter of 2020, ICT contributed 14.07 per cent to the GDP, while in the second quarter of 2021, ICT sector contributed 17.97 per cent.
“In the second quarter of 2022, the ICT sector contributed 18.44 per cent to our GDP, another unprecedented record. So we have set three new unprecedented records year-in-year out,” Pantami said.
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Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Muhammad Abubakar, said that Galaxy remain committed to connecting all the 36 states of Nigeria into ICT infrastructure to power the nation’s digital economy.
“This Zonal and Marketing Office in Gombe also houses the Safe City infrastructure that will form a seed for Gombe to function as a Smart City,” he said.
