24,000 Nigerians have been missing since 2015 – Red Cross

The Red Cross International Committee (ICRC) said on Wednesday that at least 24,000 Nigerians had been declared missing by their families since 2015.

The leader of the ICRC protection team from the Links family, María Toscano, who revealed this at the Media Workshop in Maiduguri, Borno State, said the international agency was still on their track.

He stated that the Borno state had the highest number of people missing, with around 9,000 out of 16,000 registered by ICRC in northeast.

According to him, 11 people were reunited with their families this year, in addition to 13 people who were re -integrated with their families in 2024.

Toscano said that out of the 24,000 registered missing people, 71 percent of the incident occurred from 2014 to 2015, added that the Bama Regional Government area in Borno had the highest burden on about 5,000 people missing.

Diplomat revealed that 65 percent of those who were missing in the northeast were children when they were missing.

Toscano, however, identified lack of access to areas affected by conflict and difficulties in contacting the family, among their challenges.

Previously, the Head of the ICRC Sub-Delegation in Maiduguri, Diana Japaridze, expressed concern over the increase in the level of lost people and families who had not been reunited after suffering from transfer due to armed conflict.

“Some people spend years looking for loved ones, often without results. Families have the right to know their fate.

“In the chaos of armed conflict, violence and disaster situations, the family can be separated in minutes, creating sadness and vulnerability and sometimes causes uncertainty for years about the fate of children, couples, or parents,” he said.