Zipline will add 12 drone distribution hubs in Nigeria, expanding from 3 to 15 sites to reach 20,000 health facilities and 100 million people by 2028.
Zipline is expanding its drone delivery network in Nigeria. The company plans to build 12 additional distribution centres across the country, according to its newly appointed Nigeria Country Director, Anthonio Pinheiro.
Zipline currently operates three hubs and serves Kaduna, Cross River, and Bayelsa. Pinheiro said the company already serves more than 1,300 health facilities and about six million people in those states.
The new build-out would expand Zipline’s footprint to 15 facilities nationwide. The goal is to connect up to 20,000 health facilities and improve access to healthcare commodities for nearly 100 million Nigerians by 2028.
Zipline’s model is based on drones delivering medical products, like vaccines, blood, and essential medicines, from a central hub to clinics and hospitals. A distribution centre in this context is a logistics base that stores inventory and launches flights, similar to a small warehouse plus an airfield for drones.
For Nigeria’s health system, last-mile delivery is often the hardest part. Last-mile means getting supplies from regional stores to the final destination, like a rural primary healthcare clinic. Poor road networks and long travel times can turn routine restocking into a multi-day process.
If Zipline reaches 15 hubs, it could shorten delivery times and reduce stockouts, which are periods when a facility runs out of key items. That matters most for time-sensitive products, including vaccines and emergency medicines.
For the wider tech and logistics ecosystem, this is a shift from pilot-scale health tech into national infrastructure. It also signals that drone logistics is becoming less of a trial project in Nigeria and more of a long-term supply chain layer that state health systems may plan around.
Primary Source: Techcabal
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