…Food Bank Programme
Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu commissioned a technology-focused academy and a clinic with a dialysis centre in Hadejia, Jigawa State, on Monday, and launched the second zonal rollout of a national food bank programme aimed at children under six, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Academy and the adjoining clinic, named after the first lady, were built with support from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), FutureMap Foundation and eHealth Africa.
The clinic includes an operating theatre, maternity ward and a dialysis unit intended to address chronic kidney disease in the region, and runs on renewable energy with piped oxygen across all wards.
The academy houses a fabrication laboratory and maker space, an AI-assisted learning facility, and a pitch space for startups.
Officials said the lab is intended to produce diagnostic tools and organ prototypes, including for kidney research, to support the clinic’s work, though no timeline or funding figures were given for that component.
Food bank programme expands to northwest
Tinubu also launched the National Community Food Bank Programme’s second zonal rollout, covering Jigawa State and the wider North-West.
The programme is run jointly by the Office of the First Lady, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the Bank of Agriculture.
According to Tinubu, the National Community Food Trust Fund was launched in Abuja on April 2, 2026, with a first zonal rollout in Borno State on April 27 for the North-East.
She said that rollout had enrolled 560 beneficiaries and reached 468 children, pregnant women and nursing mothers within two months, though the figures were not independently verified.
Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi, speaking at the event, cited Section 16(2) of Nigeria’s constitution, which requires government to provide “suitable and adequate food for all citizens.”
He said the state’s existing homegrown nutrition programme has screened more than 240,000 children in 2024 and 382,000 in 2025 across 300 communities, and trained 600 women to produce a fortified cereal blend known locally as Tom Brown.
Wider context
The launch follows the government’s establishment last week of a National Health Technology and Data Analytics Office, part of a broader push to integrate data and technology into Nigeria’s public health system.
The event was attended by all seven North-West governors and their spouses, Minister of State for the FCT Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, Minister of State for Education Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, NPHCDA Director-General Muyi Aina, representing Coordinating Minister of Health Muhammad Ali Pate, and NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa.
