By Ogaga Ariemu
In efforts to tackle the increasing spate of cyber attacks in Nigeria, and the need to bridge the information deficit, Galaxy Backbone (GBB), an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has organised a training workshop for journalists, under the auspices of Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Abuja.
The two-day capacity building workshop which was organised between Thursday 13th and Friday 14th October 2022, was intended not to only equip the journalists with the skills required to professionally report the IT world, but to also advance cyber security awareness among vulnerable Nigerians.
Galaxy Backbone is the information technology and shared services provider of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Speaking at the workshop, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Muhammed Abubakar said, the partnership between the company and the media was a mutually beneficial one, as it helps the GBB push its “developmental information especially on the Nigeria’s digital economy drive to the public”.
Represented by a senior manager in the company, Mr Ifedayo Balogun, the GBB boss was delighted with the depth of knowledge transfer at the workshop.
“You have spent some days here and i’m sure you already know some of the things we do and the services we provide, and I can also see a lot of knowledge sharing and transfer, the questions and the answers provided.
“I must say thank you very much for your attention and it is believed that this will certainly not be the end of our relationship and partnership as it is just the beginning”, he said.
In his vote of thanks, the President, NITRA, Abuja Chapter, Mr Blessing Olaifa thanked the GBB MD and the wonderful staff for the rare opportunity to be trained.
He said, the training exposed other statutory responsibilities and achievements of GBB which were hitherto hidden because of inadequate publicity, therefore, urged the management of GBB to do more in that regard.
“There is no training in this digital era in ICT that is little especially from the quantum of knowledge acquisition that have been impacted on we the journalists.
“For instance, some of the updated modules taught were eye opener and we are happy about it.
“We have also been made to know other statutory responsibilities which we initially thought was the purview of other agencies.
“I will appeal that there is need for more publicity on the side of GBB especially on the unique and critical services that they are rendering especially in actualizing the vision and mission of the federal government digital economy road map.
“We were impressed to know what the agency do to stop and mitigate attack on the cyber space”, he said.
Galaxy Backbone provides quality IT infrastructure and shared services for the federal government as well as private sector.