The federal government has moved the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and Galaxy Backbone Ltd (GBBL) to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Daily Trust reports.
This means that the SGF will supervise the two agencies formerly under the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.
The new changes were contained in a document by the Cabinet Affairs Office named “Mandate of Ministries, Departments and Agencies and Schedule of Duties for Honourable Ministers, dated December 2023.”
The document showed that the Ministry of Digital Economy only has four agencies – the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd.
Established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, the commission has the mandate “to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria, register persons covered by the Act, assign a unique National Identification Number (NIN) and issue General Multi-Purpose Cards GMPC to those who are citizens of Nigeria as well as others legally residing within the country.”
On the other hand, Galaxy Backbone is the information technology and shared services provider of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Established in 2016, it was created to provide technological services to the federal government’s MDAs.
The agency stated on its website that it is charged with the responsibility of “building a common services platform consisting of in-country and offshore VSAT hubs, a data centre, a federal capital metro fibre backbone and multiple redundant internet gateways.”