Zipline begins drone delivery services in Kaduna state, Nigeria — Quartz Africa

After operating for the past few years in Rwanda and Ghana, Zipline has opened its first distribution center in Nigeria today (June 3).

It is the first of three such centers the US-based logistics company plans to set up in Kaduna state, in northwest Nigeria. The center includes a small take-off and landing airspace for Zipline’s autonomous drones that will carry medicine, blood, and vaccines from a warehouse stocked by the ministry of health to local doctors and hospitals. The center, which will be staffed by 25 people and serve an 8,000 square mile area, plans to begin operations later this month.

“We are bringing instant logistics of essential medical products to one of the most challenging states logistically,” Daniel Marfo, the company’s senior vice president for Africa, told Quartz.

Zipline and Kaduna had set up the partnership before the company marked its fifth anniversary in Oct. 2021 with its 200,000th commercial delivery. But a new wave of insecurity in the state…