About 17,000 Nigerians who went missing, mostly following attacks in insurgency-affected parts of the North-East and other conflict zones, are still unaccounted for, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.

The ICRC disclosed this on Wednesday ahead of the International Day of the Disappeared, observed annually on August 30.

The latest figure represents a decline of about 6,000 from last year, when the organisation reported that 23,659 missing persons were being sought by their families.

Speaking at an event in Yola, the Protection of Family Links Delegate at the ICRC Mubi office, Emeline Montel, said about 3,000 of the missing persons were from Adamawa State.

Montel clarified that the figure was based on cases documented by the ICRC, which helps families search for missing relatives and restore contact where possible.

She spoke to journalists during a sanitation exercise, street cleaning, remembrance and awareness campaign organised by relatives of missing persons with support from the ICRC ahead of the August 30 commemoration.

Relatives who participated in the exercise said the initiative was also aimed at drawing attention to the plight of thousands of families whose lives had been disrupted by the disappearance of their loved ones.

They said many of the missing persons were breadwinners and young people who disappeared while trying to build their lives.

Habiba Mustapha, a member of the Association of Families of Disappeared Persons who participated in the street cleaning, said four of her relatives remained missing.

Habiba, an indigene of Gwoza in Borno State who was displaced to Adamawa, said the disappearance of her relatives had subjected her family to prolonged emotional and financial hardship.

“The disappearance of my relatives is a continuing source of emotional stress and economic difficulty. Some of these missing persons were breadwinners. Our children are not going to school. Look at me here in a completely new environment,” she said.

17,000 Nigerians Still Missing Amid Insurgency, Conflicts – ICRC

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