FG approves Gombe snakebite research centre, N128.29bn for TB drugs, others

The Federal Government on Monday approved the establishment of a National Snakebite Research and Medical Centre in Kaltungo, Gombe State.

It also approved N128.29bn across five health and aviation projects, including the procurement of tuberculosis commodities worth N62bn, reproductive health drugs worth N25bn, ten blood donation vans worth N6.9bn, and the construction of the Gboko airstrip in Benue State at N34.39bn.

The approvals followed Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

It was the first since March 4, 2026, when the President had last convened the council and swore in the Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun’s successor, Tunji Disu.

Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Pate, said council considered four critical health items, beginning with the upgrade of the existing snakebite treatment facility in Kaltungo into a full research and medical institution with an expanded mandate for clinical services, research and training.

Pate explained, “The Federal Executive Council today considered four important items related to the health of Nigerian people. First was the upgrade of the snakebite treatment centre in Kaltungo, Gombe State into the National Snakebite Research and Medical Centre in Kaltungo, Gombe State with an expanded mandate for clinical services, research and training to respond to the need that exists in our country for adequate attention to snake bites and snake envenomation.

“Snakebite remains a significant yet neglected public health challenge, particularly in our rural communities here in Nigeria, in the savannah regions, but also across the sub-region, and is especially hard on vulnerable populations, farmers, herders, hunters, women and children, whose livelihoods and daily activities expose them to encounters with snakes.

“We do have a large burden. Over 43,000 snakebites annually occur, many of which result in death, disfigurement, disability and psychological trauma with severe socioeconomic impact. This new centre will be an important new institution that will address the challenge, particularly in the Northeast, the Northwest and the North Central geopolitical zones of Nigeria, where the issue is most dire.”

He said the new centre would provide comprehensive, specialised care for snakebite and related envenomations, undertake research on snakebite epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and ensure sustainable access and supply of quality anti-snake venom through a full clinical and medical department.

“It will also partner with international institutions. This is a major step that brings an institution that will be the first of its kind in this country, but also in our sub-region,” Pate added.

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On the second approval, Pate said the council approved the procurement of 10 units of compressed natural gas-powered blood donation medical clinic vans for the National Blood Service Agency’s zonal activities, at a cost of N6.9bn.

“Approximately, we require 1.8 million units of blood donations annually. At the current rate, we only get about 25 to 30 per cent. These blood donation vehicles can be deployed to mobilise donors so that we enhance the collection of blood that is critical for pregnant women who may require caesarean sections, for trauma victims, for patients undergoing surgery, but also for those being treated for cancers who require repeated transfusions.

“It is part of the effort to build infrastructure comprehensively for emergency medical services dealing with maternal health,” the Minister explained.

The third approval, Pate revealed, was for the procurement of tuberculosis commodities. He argued that the item reflected a deliberate pivot away from decades of dependence on external actors for the country’s TB treatment supply chain.

He said, “Nigeria is among the countries that rank among the highest burden of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a socially determined disease, a disease of those who are poor, vulnerable, a disease of poverty, malnutrition, comorbidities and poor housing.

“Until now, most of the treatment for tuberculosis depended on external actors. Now the Nigerian government is stepping in to procure those commodities and put us on a path to manufacture them locally. We don’t manufacture those at the moment, so the effort to procure by the Federal Government will ultimately lead to the manufacturing of anti-tuberculosis drugs, the first line as well as the second line.”

The Health Minister said the fourth approval, worth N25bn, covered reproductive health drugs and commodities to be procured through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and distributed through primary health care centres nationwide.

He said, “The procurement is to provide family planning commodities and maternal health commodities for those who choose to use them for birth spacing,  essentially allowing women to exercise their wish, if they so wish, to use family planning. This is also with a view to getting us on a path to manufacturing those commodities in Nigeria.”

For his part, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, said council also approved the construction and development of the Gboko airstrip in Benue State, awarded to MESSRS CCECC Nigeria Limited at a contract sum of N34.39bn.

“The Gboko area, in particular, serves as an important hub for agricultural activities around the Middle Belt, and also in particular for security agencies who have had to look for airstrips and bases to confront the challenges we are facing around that axis,” Keyamo said, adding, “It will also be a base for humanitarian activities and services and emergency medical services. That is how important that area is, and we thought it was important to put an airstrip there to confront and address these challenges of government.”