Galaxy Backbone to provide infrastructure back-up for UNILORIN Data Centre 

Galaxy Backbone (GBB), Nigeria’s ICT infrastructure platform, has pledged to provide a safe and secure back-up for the proposed Data Centre of the University of Ilorin.

Its Managing Director, Prof. Muhammad Abubakar, made the pledge penultimate Tuesday (May 9, 2023) when he received the University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, who visited the public enterprise’s headquarters in Abuja.

The Federal Government established Galaxy Backbone in 2006 as a public enterprise with the primary responsibility of establishing and running a unified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure platform that addresses the connectivity, transversal, and other technological imperatives for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

Prof. Abubakar promised to do all what it takes to collaborate and synergies with the University of Ilorin to ensure that Prof. Egbewole achieves his target as Vice-Chancellor.

The Managing Director, who is a Professor of Petroleum Geosciences, said the GBB is a Limited Liability Company expected to deliver on social component and also generate revenue to the Government, adding that “GBB provides services to over 300 agencies including Universities and Teaching Hospitals with thousands of fibres presently covering 19 states and expected to cover the 36 states of the country by the end of the year 2023”.

According to him, “The core mandate of the agency is to secure/protect Government data from attacks to the tune of One Million Five Hundred Thousand (1,500,000) attacks daily.

The GBB has three data centres in Abuja and four data centers in Kano with a total of 3.9 petabyte of storage capacity with collaborations on cloud services, cyber-security and digitalization of academic research among others”.

Earlier in his address, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Egbewole, said that the University, whose core mandates include teaching, research, learning and community services, seeks collaboration with the GBB.

While noting that the University needs to improve on its technological capacity to drive these core mandates and achieve the set goals, Prof. Egbewole explained that the collaboration would be a win-win situation as it would be mutually beneficial to both institutions.

The Vice Chancellor said that the University of Ilorin initiated and started the Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre while other universities in Nigeria emulated it, adding that the institution plans to embark on another stride that other institutions will emulate and adopt.

Prof. Egbewole, therefore, requested the support of Galaxy Backbone to build a data centre for the University, as well as support the expertise, finance and infrastructure needs of the institution.

The Vice Chancellor further stressed the importance of technology in the 21st century, especially at the better by far University where over 15,000 students take a single course.

He said the designed goal can only be achieved if the citadel of learning can get partners and sponsors that will identify areas of need and come to the aid of the University.