The governor gave this assurance, Tuesday, while commissioning Zipline Drone Distribution Centre, at Ndok, in Ogoja Local Government Area of the state.
Ayade, who has been on campaign in the the Northern Senatorial District, stated that the establishment of Zipline drugs logistic centre, a drone-powered instant drugs logistic delivery service Centre, was part of his administration’s initiative to reduce mortality, particularly in hard-to reach areas.
The governor, in company of his wife, Dr. Linda Ayade, his Deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu, APC governorship candidate Prince Bassey Edet Otu, his running mate, Pete Odey, as well as other candidates of the party, noted that, “in other to have optimum value for our pharmaceutical factory, we needed to partner with Zipline for the major supply of our drugs. Zipline core business is essential supply of drugs and logistics services.
“This particular center in Ogoja will be serving over 300 health centers. Our primary healthcare structure will therefore reinvigorate and answer to all challenges of our people.”
It continued that the centre which MoU was signed in 2021 between the Cross River State government and Zipline, is a structure that will provide a fast and catalytic relationship between the state government’s health insurance agency code-named AyadeCare and Zipline company.
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Ayade noted that as part of the synergy, “Zipline therefore will be our logistics consultant to receive drugs for our supply chains. So, Zipline will deliver drugs to our primary health centers and other sensitive localities and even private health centers.
“Zipline will provide all support systems to deliver quality drugs which will pass the quality control systems. With Zipline, a journey that would have taken more than eight hours to deliver sensitive items like drugs, can now be delivered in 30 minutes. We have moved a little from water and drone to the air delivery system.
He assured Cross Riverians that, “this is one of the beautiful things our administration has brought. This is a clear difference from a bimodal system to a digital matter.”
To Zipline, the governor reiterated that, “Cross River State government will stand by you and provide a shoulder for you to lean on. We are ready to support you financially and provide drugs for you to continue to provide logistics support services so that you can save the lives of our citizens. For instance, if an Ndok man suffers a snake bite in the farm, just a call across to a dedicated line, a drone will locate you using global satellite positioning. The drone can then geolocate on absolute precision, which has a 99.9 percent accuracy.”
Reacting to this, the general manager of Zipline Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Catherine Obiaze stated that her company has brought a unique technology that will ensure timely delivery of drugs to areas hitherto in accessible.
Obiaze also appreciated Ayade and the Cross River State government for the partnership, adding that the project had a hundred percent local content in terms of engineers behind the scheme.
Also, the Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Janet Ekpeyong thanked the governor for his vision, even as she disclosed that the commissioning of the centre was an outcome of a mandate by the governor to her and her predecessor to understudy similar feats in Ghana.
