Nigeria’s government owned Information and Communications Technology service provider, Galaxy Backbone (GBB), has restored the disruption on some of its services, stressing that the inconvenience experienced by customers across the country is highly regretted.

Galaxy Backbone, is the government Information Technology Communication (ICT) service provider to most public institutions in Nigeria.

About 13 days ago, the ICT service provider experienced a technical glitch, which affected the systems of many public institutions hosted on its platform, including the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

This in turn, impacted the National Identity Number (NIN) verification exercise, which was made mandatory in several public and private organisations, such as the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), banks and telcos to access various services. Thousands of Nigerians seeking such services were left stranded as alternative platforms provided by NIMC management proved ineffective.

However, in a statement issued by GBB Spokesperson, Chidi Okpala, at the weekend, the Agency commended the dedication of all the Engineers and Application Experts, who it said worked round the clock since the issue occurred to fully resolve it.

The Agency insisted that the temporary outage experienced by its customers had nothing to do with any form of security breach on its Infrastructure, contrary to some earlier reports.

GBB further disclosed that it had put in all the necessary structures to prevent a recurrence of such experience going forward.

The statement read: “Galaxy Backbone (GBB) is pleased to report that the outage experienced by some of our customers earlier reported, has now been completely resolved.

“The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Muhammad Bello Abubakar and the entire management, thank all our customers for standing by us and believing in our ability and competence to get this resolved. We are proud of the doggedness and dedication of all the Engineers and Application Experts, who worked round the clock since this issue occurred and never gave up until this was fully resolved.

“We also thank well-meaning Nigerians and our stakeholders, who believed in our ability to get this resolved. We thank the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, whose guidance, intervention and support during this period has been unwavering.

“The Management of GBB, would like to reiterate that the temporary outage experienced by our customers had nothing to do with any form of security breach on our Infrastructure, as earlier stated on some platforms. The security of data of our customers and stakeholders is extremely paramount to us and we maintain the highest level of international standards, equipment and policies in ensuring data is kept secure at all times.

“During the period of this temporary outage, the organisation has worked closely with its customers and all communication shared has been consistent at all levels with no contradictions.

“GBB has put in all the necessary structures based on global standards to ensure that such an outage is never again experienced by any of our customers in either the public or private sector. As our customers resume their services to the public, our team of Engineers, Service Delivery and Support Experts would be working closely with them in the event of any problems that may need resolution.

“We are committed to maintaining excellent service delivery and enhancement of the digital services experience of our customers.”