Yola (Nigeria): The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has revealed a staggering statistic that over 13,000 families in Nigeria are still searching for a shocking total of 23,659 missing persons.
The ICRC Family Link Officer, Mr Benson Lee, disclosed this on Saturday in Yola at the commemoration of International Day of the Disappeared.
Lee said 59 per cent of the missing persons were minors at the time of disappearance, and 67 per cent of the incidents occurred in Borno.
“Worldwide figures: in 2024, more than 94,000 people were registered as missing by their families with the Family Links Network, bringing the current number of registered missing people to approximately 284,400.
“From our experience, this is only a fraction of the true number of missing people out there”, he said.
Lee said that behind each missing person is a family living in anguish and uncertainty, struggling with the pain of not knowing what has happened to their loved one.
According to him, the suffering is compounded by economic, legal, administrative, psychological and psychosocial challenges.
Mr Luka Wada, Chairman of the Family Association of Missing Persons, appreciated ICRC for its concerns and support in reuniting missing persons with their loved ones.
“We understand that 80 per cent of the missing persons were as a result of armed conflicts, therefore we thanked God we are alive and remembered our loved ones who were missing”, he said.
He urged governments and NGOs to step in and support the relatives of the missing persons, as some of those missing were the sole breadwinners of their families.
Dr Jamila Suleiman, Chairman of the Adamawa Peace Commission, called on the families of the missing persons to take the situation as an act of God.
She advised them to be prayerful and not to lose hope of reuniting with their loved ones.
According to her, the commission is working to ensure peaceful coexistence across the state to avert any conflict that may lead to missing people.
