Digital inclusion: Galaxy Backbone empowers 149 IDPs with digital skills, smartphones
Omeiza Bilal with agency
Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB), has empowered over 149 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with literacy skills and smart phones to enable them connect their businesses to the world.
Speaking at Durumi IDP camp in Abuja as part activities to mark its 20th anniversary, the Managing Director of GBB, Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, said the essence of the empowerment was to move the IDPs from hands out to dependency by connecting them to opportunities.
He said: “True connectivity is not just about towers, fibre optics, or broadband speed. True connectivity is about connecting people to opportunity, to hope and to a dignified future.
“Now, in our country today, the crisis of the internal displacement is not just statistics. It’s a human tragedy unfolding in our backyard. We are talking of mothers who have lost their homes, but not their will to provide.
“We are talking of youth who have been displaced, but not disconnected from their potential. We are looking at communities whose physical structures may be damaged, but whose entrepreneurial spirit remains unbroken.”
He said by bringing capacity building and digital tools directly to the internal displaced persons, GBB is democratising access to the digital economy.
He said, “So our empowerment today has three pillars, which I’ll go through very quickly. The pillar one is about digital skills and capacity building.
“We have deployed our best trained resources to provide hands-on, market-relevant digital skills. Our curriculum is not theoretical. It was designed to generate income from day one.
“Beneficiaries have been trained and certified in digital marketing, social media management, graphics design and content creation, data entry, and virtual assistants, among others.
“The pillar two is about the provision of a digital starter tool kit. So today we are looking at not just giving you skills, but providing tools that will enable you to use those skills.
“So, we are providing smartphones preloaded with productivity and learning applications. And this is fully subsidised with internet data packages for a defined period, ensuring that connectivity is not a barrier. The pillar three is about market access and mentorship.
“The most critical of these three pillars is about linking skills to actual income. We will not just train you and give you tools. We will open our doors.”
