The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has donated 68 metric tonnes of dates to vulnerable Nigerians through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The handover ceremony took place on Monday in Abuja, with WFP Country Director, David Stevenson, praising the donation as both generous and culturally relevant.
According to Stevenson, the dates will benefit at least 34,000 households—about 170,000 people—in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across Borno State. Targeted areas include Damasak, Mafa, Dikwa, and Damboa, with distributions scheduled between October and December.
He stressed that the initiative was a testament to humanitarian collaboration, adding that WFP had supported close to 1.5 million vulnerable people in Northern Nigeria this year.
Chargé D’Affaires of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, Saad Fahad Almarri, said the donation was facilitated through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s execution of over 3,600 humanitarian projects worth $8.1 billion across 108 countries.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, described the donation as a symbol of compassion and partnership. Represented by Hajiya Jummai Katagun, he assured that the government would integrate such interventions into wider strategies for resilience and stability.
Sununu commended Saudi Arabia’s commitment and WFP’s role in ensuring life-saving food reaches those most in need.
