The Galaxy Backbone (GBB), a public enterprise of the Federal Government, is organising a capacity-building programme for members of the Digital Transformation Technical Working Group (DT-TWG), according to Mr Chidi Okpala, Head of GBB’s Media and Marketing Department.

The organisation said this was part of its commitment to develop and enhance the digital skills of its stakeholders and customers.

In a statement on Tuesday night in Abuja, Okpala said all the participants are drawn from across the Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs).

“This training is the first in the series of trainings GBB is committed to embarking on this year.

“The new world of work has prompted that Professionals in organisations are well equipped with digital skills that will enable them perform their functions adequately within their respective organisations,” he said.

He, however, explained that Technical and Service Experts from GBB and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), took participants on courses, including digital economy.

Other courses were the use of GOVMAIL (the official government email) for digital communication, network and cyber security in the Nigerian public sector amongst other digital service programmes.

According to Okpala, the Digital Transformation Technical Working Groups (DT-TWGs), a creation of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, comprise selected members that have been tasked to provide digital leadership to their MDAs.

Each DT-TWG in an MDA will comprise of the Director/Head of ICT, a member of the ICT department or unit, and a selected member from some of the following departments/units; finance, procurement, audit, legal.

Among others, they will be responsible for the success of digital initiatives of their respective MDAs.

GBB as the Digital Infrastructure and shared services provider to government organisations, play a fundamental role in the development and success of this group, hence this training.

Mr Nasir Suleiman, Group Head of Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS) at GBB, encouraged the participants to take advantage of the huge opportunities the current Digital Economy brings and learn all they can during the programme.

Suleiman also advised them to embrace digital services such as using their official emails to transact their daily assignments.

‘‘We advise you to commit to making use of your official emails and not your personal email in communicating amongst one another.

“Your official email is secure and gives you a professional outlook when interacting with local and international stakeholders, partners and clients,” he said.

GBB was incorporated in 2006 with the primary mandate of setting up and operating a unified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure platform that addresses the connectivity, transversal and other technology imperatives for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

The company is also charged with operating a nationwide network backbone to help facilitate the digital inclusion of underserved areas and rural communities towards the realization of the MDG goals.

The Digital Transformation Working Group is an umbrella group that provides transformational guidance and best practices for all aspects of developing and operating Digital Transformation solutions: innovation, vision and strategy development, business-case creation, architecture design, technology selection, implementation, testing, rollout and operations. (NAN)