The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) has contracted 54Gene, a molecular diagnostics company specialised in research and diagnostics, to immediately set up a 400 test per day capacity laboratory in Kano State.
54Gene is accredited by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and has already set up labs in Lagos and in Ogun States. The lab, which was inaugurated yesterday in Kano, will start with a testing capacity of 400 tests a day, increasing to 1,000 tests a day by May 10. The lab will be set up at Muhammadu Buhari Hospital in Kano, where an isolation center is currently operational.
President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said the foundation is directly supporting the Nigerian government’s COVID-19 containment efforts in Kano State.
According to Dangote, this new investment in support of increasing nation-wide testing, comes in addition to ADF’s support through the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).