The increase in drone adoption in Nigeria over the past year reflects an accelerating trend of interest in multiple sectors across Africa.
Last week, US drone maker Zipline and the Nigerian government announced an agreement at the United Nations General Assembly that will see the company play a central role in transporting medical products such as blood, medicines and vaccines into the country. Nigeria’s Health Minister Ali Pate said in a statement that the partnership will “improve the quality of health services available to all Nigerians.”
The deal comes two years after the zip line began pilot operations in Kaduna state in northwestern Nigeria. A key part of the project is raising funds to establish and staff multiple hubs with facilities for drone operations, such as warehouses and airfields. Caitlin Burton, Zipline’s senior vice president of partnerships, told Semaphore Africa that each hub will serve communities within a 38,000 square kilometer radius. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Elton John AIDS Foundation have signed up as seed funders. Barton estimated the project would require raising “millions of dollars.”
This is the latest mark in the nascent sector. In April, Terrahaptix, a startup in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, opened a 15,000 square foot factory and began producing drones. The company is in the process of establishing a second factory in another West African country.
Nathan Nwachukwu, one of Terrahaptix’s two co-founders, both 21, said the company’s drones and operating software are mostly manufactured in-house, and that the company’s commercial customers in the oil, mining and industrial sectors He said he has “more than $1 million in proceeds” in the bank. Agricultural industries in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Companies that buy drones primarily use them as part of their security hardware, he said.
“The only thing we don’t make are sensors and cameras,” Nwachukwu told Semaphore Africa. The startup pulled back from its initial focus on manufacturing military drones to avoid association with violent conflicts, he said.
