By Abdulkareem Haruna


MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Wednesday that it has registered approximately 24,000 cases of missing persons in Nigeria since 2014, with the vast majority linked to the decade-long conflict in the country’s northeast. The figure, revealed at a media workshop here, highlights a hidden humanitarian crisis often overshadowed by the daily news of violence and displacement.


The data presented by the ICRC paints a grim picture, particularly for the region’s youngest residents. According to the organization, 56% of those registered as missing were children at the time of their disappearance.


María Angélica Mirabal Toscano, an ICRC Protection of Family Links Team Leader, noted that most of the registered disappearances—71%—occurred between 2014 and 2015, a period that saw the peak of the insurgency’s violence and numerous mass abductions.


The northeast region, the epicenter of the conflict, accounts for about 16,000 of the registered cases. Within this region, Borno state is the most affected, with 9,000 active cases. The town of Bama alone has the highest caseload, with approximately 5,000 missing persons, underscoring the immense devastation that has befallen the area.


Mirabal Toscano explained that resolving these cases is complicated by significant challenges, including limited access to conflict-affected areas and difficulties in contacting families, many of whom have been displaced. The transnational nature of the crisis is also evident, with around 2,000 cases registered abroad by families searching for relatives in Nigeria.