GALAXY BACKBONE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society
• Head, Special Projects
• MCPN - Head, Special Projects

Abdul-Malik Suleiman (FNCS) has worked for over two decades and has spent several years of his professional career helping organisations develop, build and implement sustainable technology solutions that has helped improve the processes and productivity of these institutions. He joined Galaxy Backbone as Technical Manager responsible for the development and implementation of flexible and sustainable ICT solutions. He also shares and contributes his expertise and experience on the platform of several consortiums and technical working groups. Prior to joining Galaxy Backbone, Abdul-Malik worked under different responsibilities between the years 2000 and 2008 for the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL); now nTEL. He was the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) IP Manager and part of the team that pioneered the undersea cable operations in Nigeria. Over the years, he has worked for Galaxy Backbone as a Solutions Architect, Implementation Manager, Integration Manager and Service Owner. Prior to moving to his current role, Abdul-Malik was the Group Head Business Development where he expanded and deepened Galaxy's portfolio of viable and customer focused services. Today, he brings this depth of experience; clear understanding of customer and technology needs within the ICT space to his current role and stewardship as the Group Head responsible for Regional Offices. Abdul-Malik is a Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and a Chartered Information Technology Practitioner. He is also a Member of Computer Professional Registration Council (CPN) and an alumnus of the prestigious Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, where he obtained Bachelor of Technology and Master of Science degrees in the field of computing. He has attended training and technical workshops spanning the fields of Management, Aviation, Telecoms, Marketing, Sales and Innovation from institutions around the world, amongst which are George Washington University, USA; Siemens Institute for Information and Communication, Germany; Japan Telecommunications Engineering Institute, Tokyo; Indian Institute of Technology, India; CasaAero Morocco; British Telecommunications Training Institute, Yarnfield Stone, UK, Huawei and ZTE Universities, China and Lagos Business School. His hobbies includes Football and Greenfield horse racing.

Job Titles:

• Company Secretary / Head, Legal Services

Adama Usman Pindar is an astute and accomplished legal practitioner with nearly two decades of experience traversing local and international legal systems. Her expertise cuts across Corporate Law, IT Law, Regulatory Compliance, and Government Relations. She started her career with Oceanic Bank in the funds transfer unit. Her hunger to put her legal knowledge to use made this stint very brief. Adama joined Galaxy Backbone Limited in 2006, as one of the exciting new breeds of legal practitioners operating within Nigeria's fledgling Information Technology and Telecommunications space. She took this challenge head on ready to dedicate her legal acumen to driving national adoption of Information Technology and proliferation of internet services use within the Nigerian public sector. With her tenacity and proficient work ethics, she has risen through the ranks to become the Company Secretary/Head of Legal Services. She has a track record of peak performance and a reputation for excellence; an epitome of a successful "working mum". Adama is an Accredited Corporate Secretary, Certified ITIL Legal Practitioner, and has served almost two decades at the Nigerian Bar. She has attended leadership, management, and professional training at some the leading institutions locally and internationally, including Lagos Business School, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Geneva, Falconbury Training Institute, United Kingdom, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, among many others. She is currently the longest-serving employee of Galaxy Backbone Limited, and a staunch believer in the vision of the organization. Mrs. Adama Pindar is happily married with children.

Job Titles:

• CHIEF SALES & MARKETING OFFICER

Aliyu has over 20 years of cognate industry experience in Telecoms, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), and Banking. His experience encompasses leadership in marketing & sales, customer value management, pricing, business intelligence analytics, operations management, and commercial strategy development. Prior to his appointment as GBB's Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, he was the Head of Stakeholder Management at Backbone Connectivity Networks (BCN). He previously worked at Olam Grains as Head of Trade Marketing; at Dangote Flour Mills as Head, National Brand Activation and Visibility; at MTN Nigeria as Regional Sales Manager amongst others. He has attended several information & Communication (ICT) and Management Development programs. He is married with children. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing GBB's Propositions, Marketing, and Sales operations within the framework of an agreed marketing and sales strategy, and meeting operational targets for revenues, profitability while enhancing and customer/stakeholder satisfaction. He is married with children.

Job Titles:

• Head of Internal Audit

Kolawole is the Head of Internal Audit Department. He read Physics from the University of Lagos and graduated in September 1990. He obtained his Post Graduate Diploma from the same University in June 1995. After completion of his National Youth Service Program between 1990 and 1991, he joined Akintola William Deloitte & Co. (Chartered Accountants (AWD) as a graduate trainee between 1992 and 1997 where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in November 1997. He later joined Devcom Bank Limited as an Assistant Manager in the Finance and Accounts department of the bank between 1 July 1998 and 31 July 2001, he later rose to become the Head, Financial Control of the bank between 1 August 2001 to 4 October 2001. He left Devcom Bank to join Diamond Bank on 8 October 2001 as an Assistant Manager, Internal Controls. He left Diamond Bank on 29 October 2002 to join SCOA Nigeria PLC as the Head of Internal Audit. He later joined IWAY AFRICA (Formerly MWEB Nigeria Limited and a subsidiary of Multichoice Nigeria Limited) on 3 February 2004 as a Financial Manager. He later left MWEB Nigeria on 13 July 2007 to join Galaxy Backbone Limited on 16 July 2007 as a manager where he rose to the position of Deputy General Manager & Head of Internal Audit till date. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN). He is also a member of the Global Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). He is also holder of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) Executive where he specialized in Finance from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in May 2017. Kolawole has undergone various management courses both local and abroad and among them is the Lagos Business School where he attended the Senior Management Program (SMP Class 80) between September 2021 and January 2022. He is currently an alumnus of Lagos Business School. He has over fifteen years of Public Service experience as well as 15 years of Private Service experience. He was born on 14 June 1968. He is happily married and the marriage is blessed with four boys.

Job Titles:

• Group Head, Mandate Integration / Corporate Strategy
• Group Head, Mandate Integration and Corporate Strategy

Martin Ahachi has over 24years' experience in the ICT sector with deep hands-on technical and managerial expertise in the delivery, management and support of ICT infrastructure and services. A Pioneering Executive Management staff of Galaxy Backbone where he led as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for a number of years. As CTO, he was largely responsible for the delivery of the key infrastructure and service projects that has defined Galaxy backbone's success over the years. He is currently the Director, Strategic Projects; tasked with the responsibility of delivering strategic projects aimed at launching the organisation into the next wave of growth. Martin is a graduate of Electronic Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with an MBA in Operations Management from the University of Lagos. He has also received management and leadership training from the Lagos Business School; Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania) and Columbia University Business School. Martin is keenly interested in Impactful Leadership and currently serves, on a number of ICT-related Technical Advisory and Working Groups for the country. Martin is multilingual; with proficiency in English; French and two major Nigerian Languages .​​

Job Titles:

• Chief Information Security & Business Continuity Officer

Chartered IT Professional and Telecoms Consultant, ICT and Project Director, Community Leader, Volunteer Mentor, Philanthropist and Administrator par excellence with Ph.D. in Wireless Communications having research interest in Underwater Wireless Communications (UWC) and Cellular based Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communications who had published in several journals and IEEE conference articles. Nasir is an Ericsson Certified Customer Project Manager and Experienced Consulting and System Integrator with a track record of handing complex projects. He has vast experience working with private and public sectors as well as multinationals while at NITEL, MTN Nigeria & Uganda ,Airtel, Ericsson Nigeria & KSA, NHIS and University Community at Umaru Musa Yar'adua University (UMYU,Katsina) & Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto (UDUS). Prior to his appointment as GBB CISBCO, he was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Backbone Connectivity Networks(BCN) where he championed the company's digital economy transformation and broadband expansion initiatives in Nigeria and Sub-saharan Africa. Nasir is married with children and plays Chess and Golf cheerfully during his free moments.

Job Titles:

• Group Head, Research, Digital, Innovations, and Skills

Nasir Suleiman Yakubu, an IT professional has worked over two decades and spent several years of his professional career helping organizations develop, build and implement sustainable technology solutions that has helped improve the process and productivity of these institutions. He joined Galaxy Backbone Limited, as Manager, in charge of Corporate Performance and Process Improvements, where he rose to the rank of Deputy General Manager and Group Head, Research, Digital Innovations and Skills (RDIS) Department of the same organization till date. Prior to joining Galaxy Backbone, he has worked in several Organizations like Mercedes Benz ANAMMCO Limited, in the MIS department, as Head of Networks and System Development. From there he joined the services of NITEL Ltd, North West Zone (NWZ) Billing Center Kaduna, where he rose to rank of Head, System Administrations/System Development. He was transferred to NITEL Corporate Headquarters, as Manager, Main Billing Center. As part of his successful career progressions, he became the Head, Main Billing Center. He resigned from NITEL and decided to undertake private consulting. He has provided professional consultancy services to business enterprises like Microaccess Limited, Galaxy Backbone Limited before he was employed as permanent staff in Galaxy Backbone Limited.

Job Titles:

• Group Head, Human Resources
• Head, Human Resources

Olugbenga is an accomplished senior professional with over 17 year's extensive expertise in a broad suite of operations especially in Management Consulting, Corporate Planning, Human Resources Management, Monitoring & Evaluation, and General Administration amongst others. He has a proven track record as a visionary with awareness of multiple industry domains to facilitate development and implementation of organizational and institutional strategies. He is proficient at full organizational and business - unit management with reputation for leading teams towards peak performance. Prior to joining Galaxy Backbone in August 2014, Gbenga has worked in different industries/sectors and in different capacities spanning across Management Consulting (where he led teams to consult for several local, multinational and development organizations), Telecommunication (i.e. MTN Nigeria as a member of the Senior HR Management Team) and Oil and Gas Sector (as Head of Human Resources).

Job Titles:

• Chief of Staff
• Executive Director

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Managing Director
• Professor

Professor Abubakar has over two decades of working experience spanning the academia, oil and gas exploration research, development and innovation institutions. He is a strategic thinker with strong leadership and management skill. He has an impressive exposure to global best practice in the field of energy. Muhammad is a Professor of Petroleum Geosciences. Prior to his appointment as MD/CE, he was the Executive Director and a Principal start-up for the establishment and development of the National Centre for Petroleum Research and Development of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, where he spearheaded a cross-cutting edge research that developed the conceptual exploration model deployed in the successful oil and gas exploration in the frontier basin of the Northeast Nigeria. He was also a Research Consultant to NNPC on oil and gas exploration. Muhammad hails from Gombe State. He is an alumnus of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (where he obtained B.Tech. in Applied Geology, M.Sc. in Sedimentology/Petroleum Geology and Ph.D. in Sedimentology/Petroleum Geology), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and was a recipient of several awards that included National University Commission's (NUC's) best Ph.D. thesis award in physical sciences from all Nigeria Universities. He has attended several information and Communication (ICT) training programs including basic Cisco Academy Networking certification, several local and international programs in leadership and strategic management, as well as many sustainable development trainings in the field of energy. He is married with children.

Job Titles:

• Chairman of the Board of Directors