Benue: Plan International Nigeria Distributes Relief Materials, Essential Hygiene Products

Plan International Nigeria, with funding from the Start Network and in consortium with other organizations has distributed relief materials and essential hygiene products worth millions of naira to displaced persons in Benue State.

The consortium which consist of Plan International Nigeria, ActionAid Nigeria and Jireh Doo donated non-food items to 1,500 households (10, 800 individuals).

Also donated were hygiene kits comprised of menstrual pads, pants, bathing soaps, creams, tooth pastes, and tooth brushes to 1200 women, unconditional cash assistance to 1,800 households, water trucking to selected IDP camps, and critical medical supplies to 1,000 individuals in three local government areas: Katsina-Ala, Gwer West, and Kwande.

Speaking at the flag off of the distribution on Thursday 15th May, 2025, the Katsina-Ala local government chairman, Justine Shaku, expressed regret over the displacement of families due to insecurity while reiterating the commitment by the government to foster a peaceful and secure environment for development and economic growth of the state as a whole.

He noted that the local government area used to be known as the “gateway to the food basket of the nation.

” But that in the past 10 years, “our people have been displaced” by bandits, seven out of the nine council wards that were under siege, have now been liberated “under the governor and my watch.”

The LGA chairman commended the donor, Start Fund, and Plan International for the kind gesture and expressed hope that shortly, his people will regain the ability to start helping others too.

A 27-year-old, Mrs Eunice Sue, said she lost her husband to a bandit attack and now finds it difficult to fend for herself and her two children.

Sue thanked Plan International for the kind gesture.

The Country Director of Plan International Nigeria, Charles Usie, noted that the donation was the organisation’s second humanitarian response in Benue State in the past year due to escalating insecurity.

He explained Plan International’s focus on women, adolescent girls, and children, especially during conflict, because they are often among the most affected. READ ALSO: Plan International Commends Bauchi State For Establishment Of Free Pad Banks For Girls

While thanking the state government and the relevant agencies including the Benue State Bureau for International Cooperation and Development, the state’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the State’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for their invaluable support, Usie appealed to all parties to the conflict to give peace a chance for development to find space.

According to, Plan International Nigeria’s Head of Humanitarian Programme, Dr Emmanuel Nuhu “We recognise that the items donated are only relief materials and are not a lasting solution to the challenges the families have been plunged into but it is hoped that they will be a significant support pillar and stopgap to build their resilience and recovery.”

He also thanked the donors, Start Network, for having faith in Plan International and the other partners to deliver on the project.

In Katsina-Ala, where Plan International implemented the emergency response intervention, 650 households received cash donations to support their recovery, 400 adolescent girls and women received dignity kits, and 500 received non-food items.

Benue state, known for the fertility of its land, earning it the sobriquet “the food basket of the nation,” has become an epicenter of violent conflict in recent years, largely between livestock herders and farmers, and other criminality including kidnapping, armed robbery, etc. leading to the destruction of property, displacement and loss of lives.

PLAN