The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has expressed confidence in achieving a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025, following a working visit to Galaxy Backbone Limited, Nigeria’s leading provider of digital infrastructure and shared ICT services.
According to a press statement on Thursday by the Head of Corporate Communications at Galaxy Backbone, Chidi Okpala, the visit to the company’s National Shared Services Centre and Corporate Headquarters in Abuja forms part of the Federal Government’s push to deepen digitalisation reforms across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
Walson-Jack was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr. Adeladan Olarinre, alongside a delegation of permanent secretaries and directors from her office.
The team undertook an extensive tour of Galaxy Backbone’s facilities, including its Network Operations Centre, Security Operations Centre, and Uptime Institute Certified Tier III Data Centre—all of which support secure, scalable, and sovereign digital infrastructure for public institutions.
The visit aimed to assess the digital capacity of Galaxy Backbone and strengthen collaboration in the government’s digital transformation agenda.
The Head of Service described Galaxy Backbone as a strategic partner in the realisation of a modern, agile and paperless civil service, adding that the quality and scale of infrastructure provided by the agency had significantly enhanced her office’s confidence in achieving the digitalisation goal.
According to the statement, “Reaffirming her office’s commitment to achieving a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025, the Head of Service expressed optimism that this goal is attainable with stronger collaboration and technical support from GBB.”
She commended Galaxy Backbone’s support for initiatives such as the War Room project, the widespread deployment of GovMail—which now serves over 34,000 civil servants—and the high-speed fibre connectivity used during the 2025 International Civil Service Week.
Walson-Jack outlined priority areas for collaboration with Galaxy Backbone, including the full implementation of the 1Government Cloud to host MDA operations, adoption of an Enterprise Content Management System to automate workflows, integration between the 1Government Cloud Academy and the Civil Service Academy for capacity building, and onboarding civil servants to innovative tools like Service-Wise GPT—Nigeria’s artificial intelligence platform for service delivery.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, stated that the visit shows the central role of the civil service in national development and aligns with GBB’s mission to power Nigeria’s digital transformation through robust ICT infrastructure.
He noted that the agency’s fibre optic network currently extends to 28 states, including Federal Secretariat buildings, and called for further collaboration to expand Local Area Networks across the Federal Capital Territory.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Mr. Adeladan Olarinre, described the visit as an opportunity to showcase the agency’s digital milestones and encouraged stronger alignment between Galaxy Backbone and MDAs.
Also speaking, Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Mohammed Sani, expressed gratitude to the Head of Service and her delegation for their visit, reiterating the agency’s commitment to delivering resilient and inclusive digital solutions for the federal government.
Galaxy Backbone, a government-owned enterprise under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, provides secure infrastructure, cloud services, and connectivity to drive Nigeria’s transition to e-governance and digital sovereignty.
