By TECHNOLOGY TIMES Staff
Lagos. June 18, 2013: Gerald Ilukwe, the Managing Director/CEO of Galaxy Backbone has said that the UN award recently won by the public sector technology services company validates that ongoing e-government efforts in Nigeria is yielding fruit.
Galaxy Backbone Ltd emerged winner of the United Nations Public Service Awards for 2013 when its “1-GOV.net” initiative was awarded first place in Africa, in the category: “Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age”.
The public sector technology company built and operates 1-Gov.net as a common ICT platform for all Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to foster efficient and effective delivery of public sector services.
According to Ilukwe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company, the UN award “is a recognition of the fact that the painstaking consolidation and expansion of government-wide ICT infrastructure has begun to yield its first fruits – enabling the automation of the Federal Executive Council Memoranda process and the creation of a single hub for citizens to access government services.”
Galaxy Backbone’s 1-GOV.net initiative came up for recognition because it represents a creative and exemplary solution that transformed the chaotic information technology landscape in the Federal Government and its MDAs into a single, coordinated platform for e-government programmes in the space of 5 years”, he adds.
The United Nations Public Service Award won by Nigeria’s Galaxy Backbone is ranked as the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide.
According to the letter from the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs to Galaxy Backbone, “your institution’s outstanding achievement has demonstrated excellence in serving the public interest and I am confident it has made a significant contribution to the improvement of public administration in your country. Indeed, it will serve as an inspiration and encouragement for others working for public service.”
1-GOV.net has also been recognized because of the role it now plays in enabling other electronic government services for internal government operations such as the automation of the memo handling process for Federal Executive Council meetings; government personnel payroll management (IPPIS) thus resulting in the gradual elimination of the ghost workers in the Federal civil service; and an IP telephony system which allows for communication within and across government MDAs.
Ilukwe adds that 1-GOV.net also supports the delivery of public services such as the provision of bridging assistance for the transportation of petroleum products to maintain uniform prices nationwide with over 1,000 trucks processed daily in real time by Petroleum Equalisation Fund.
The technology company also support real time implementation of new biometric drivers licensing scheme nationwide targeting over 20 million drivers by 30th September 2013 nd the processing of over five million international passengers in 2012 by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
This will be the first time any Nigerian initiative or institution is winning the UN Public Service Award in any category, Galaxy Backbone says.
The overall purpose of the UNPSA programme is to reward the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions towards a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. An annual global competition that promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service, it encourages exemplary public service and recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service.
UNPSA which was developed to reward creative achievements and contributions of public service entities towards improved eefective and responsive public administration across the globe.
The Awards aims to discover innovations in governance; reward excellence in the public sector; motivate public servants to further promote innovation; enhance professionalism in the public service and raise the image of public service, among others.
Home