Richard Ginika Izuora
The Federal Government is now making extensive use of Telepresence facilities deployed by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE), through the Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited, a parastatal under the ministry.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), had earlier directed GBB to utilize its highly secure Government-wide Telepresence and Collaboration facilities,to ensure government functions continue while maintaining social distancing. They have complied by positioning their Telepresence and Collaboration facilities to ensure productivity, enhance security and reduce the cost of communication during this period.
Consequently, video conferencing terminals have been installed at over 120 Federal Government institutions, including the offices of the Vice President; 26 Ministers offices, 17 Ministers of State; office of the 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.
The ministry assured that calls and Conferences are secured with end to end encryption within GBB operated government network and that the GBB also has the capacity to provide both public and private sector organizations secure and reliable telepresence services from its State-of-the-Art Unified Communication Services (UCS) platform.
The ministry promised to use technology to ensure that there are no interruptions in crucial government meetings and that virtual meetings will go ahead with all relevant stakeholders in a secure and reliable manner as we collectively tackle this challenge to humanity.