Galaxy Backbone Ltd has created 42,000 email accounts on a unified email platform for federal public servants in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology.
This is in line with one of the key mandates of the Ministry which is to facilitate the deployment of information and communication technologies to drive transparency in governance and improve quality and cost effectiveness of public service delivery.
The “switch to .gov.ng” is an initiative of the Ministry designed for the adoption and penetration of the unified email platform for federal civil servants on grade levels 10 to 17 in order to improve internal productivity and quality service delivery to Nigerians.
During the unveiling of the unified email platform, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology, said that “collectively adopting this messaging and collaboration platform is an important pillar of our e-government strategy. The platform will improve the speed and efficiency of official communications and provide the means to share, store and gain access to official documents anytime, anywhere and on any computer or mobile device. Other features of the platform include the ability to send confidential (encrypted) email, schedule meetings on line, assign and track staff and colleagues on official tasks and assignments, send circulars service-wide at the touch of a button amongst others”.
According to her, “42,000 email accounts have been created for all officers on GL 10 to 17 in the Federal Civil Service. As we expand the infrastructure and the capacity of the platform, email accounts for federal civil servants on GL 09 and below will be created”.
Enumerating the unique features of the platform, Mrs. Johnson stated that the unified email platform can be accessed through the www.fedcs.gov.ng, a simple easy to navigate portal to enable users activate their email accounts.
The portal will also eventually serve as the central information portal or intranet for Government, offering authorized and secure access to online services, documents and resources.
Also, a standard naming convention has been adopted in the creation of email accounts for all civil servants firstname.surname@fedcs.gov.ng .
In addition, special e-mail accounts have been created for Ministers who are not part of the civil service workforce but should be associated with their portfolios – but still with the standard naming convention.
Furthermore, role specific email accounts have been created but they will be extremely limited to avoid a proliferation of email accounts and unnecessary redundancy. These special accounts may be used for non-personal departmental functions and roles.
Most significantly, the platform is available on mobile devices such as Blackberry, Android and Windows phones and tablets.