Over 10,000 children among 24,000 missing Nigerians since 2015 – ICRC

Egbetokun

The International Committee of the Red Cross, on Wednesday, revealed that more than 24,000 Nigerians have been declared missing by their families since 2015, with over 10,000 of them being children.

This was disclosed by ICRC’s Protection of Family Links Team Leader, María Toscano, during a media workshop held in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Toscano said Borno State has the highest number of missing persons, with about 9,000 out of the 16,000 registered in the North-East alone.

She noted that efforts to reunite missing persons with their families were ongoing, saying, “11 persons have so far been reunited with their families this year, in addition to the 13 persons who have been reintegrated with their families in 2024.”

Giving further insight, Toscano explained that the majority of the disappearances occurred between 2014 and 2015.

“Of the 24,000 registered missing persons, 71 per cent of the incidents occurred from 2014 to 2015,” she said, adding that Bama Local Government Area in Borno had the highest caseload with about 5,000 missing persons.

She also revealed that children accounted for the majority of the missing in the North-East.“65 per cent of those missing in the North-East were children at the time they were missing,” she stated.

Toscano identified key challenges in tracing the missing, including limited access to conflict-affected areas and difficulty in establishing contact with families.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Maiduguri, Diana Japaridze, expressed concern over the growing number of people still unaccounted for due to the prolonged armed conflict in the region.

“Some people spend years searching for loved ones, often with no result. Families have a right to know their fate.