The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has commenced distribution of food items donated by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State.
The IDPs are located in eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and host communities in Borno State.
In a statement signed by Mr Manzo Ezekiel, Head, Press Unit, NEMA, on Wednesday, the food distribution was inaugurated at El-Miskin IDPs camp in Maiduguri.
He said that the Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum and Director-General of NEMA, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, were present at the event.
In his remark, Governor Zulum thanked King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia for the donation through King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre and NEMA for facilitating the delivery and distribution to the IDPs.
The governor who noted that the donation was timely, assured that the relief items would be distributed equitably across the identified camps and warned state officials involved not to engage in any malpractice of diversion of the items.
“We will not allow diversion of this relief under my watch,” Zulum said.
Also speaking, the Director-General, NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, explained that the donation was meant to cater for 16,000 households as each of them will get a total food package of 59.8 kilogram basket of food.
“This is comprising of 25kg of rice; 25kg of beans; 4kg of Masa Vita flour; 2kg of tomato paste; 2litres of groundnut oil; 1kg of salt and 0.8kg of maggi cubes.”
“The relief items are meant to support Nigerians affected by both insurgency as well as those impacted by the 2022 flood disaster in Borno State,” he disclosed.
He said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the donation have proven to be good Nigeria’s allies due to their empathy for Nigerians during a crisis period.
He said that 16,000 food baskets were among the donations to cater for 16, 000 households in Borno, while others include building materials, household needs, food items among others.
“NEMA’s partnership with the KSrelief dates back to 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, the centre donated relief items in form of food baskets to IDPs in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara States.
“The impacts of these interventions have no doubt saved lives and given hope to the beneficiaries as evident in the positive testimonies of the people,” he said.
The team lead of the Saudi Arabian aid Agency at the occasion, Mr Al-Yuosef Abdulkarim, while handing over the relief items for distribution said the donation was meant to support the displaced persons in Borno State.
He explained that the 16,000 food baskets to be distributed through NEMA as the implementing partner of KSrelief, will benefit 96,000 persons in the camps.
The project is one of the initiative of King Salman Humanitarian Relief and Aid Centre that is being implemented to meet the basic food needs in countries in several countries throughout the world. It includes basic foodstuffs that families need such as rice and beans.