According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 25,000 people are missing in Nigeria as a result of insecurity in the country’s North-East region.
Yann Bonzon, the head of the ICRC delegation, stated that this is in addition to the over 2,000 cases of missing persons that the organization has registered since January 2021.
He made the remarks at an event in Abuja commemorating the 2022 International Day of the Disappeared.
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While acknowledging that children are more vulnerable, Bonzon stated that more than half of the missing people in the North-East were minors at the time of their disappearance.
14,000 children are missing in Nigeriađź’”
"Sadly, the almost 14,000 children registered does not capture the full scope of this tragic humanitarian issue. There is no doubt that there are more children whose fate remains unknown"
–@YBonzonICRC https://t.co/xOaSloCq7P
— ICRC in Nigeria (@ICRC_Nigeria) August 30, 2022
While acknowledging that children are more vulnerable, Bonzon stated that more than half of the missing people in the North-East were minors at the time of their disappearance.
Disaggregating the figures further, Mr Bonzon says more than 14,000 of the victims of disappearance are children representing over fifty per cent of the total number.
According to him, women are the second most common victims of disappearance.
He also claimed that the figure presented is only a fraction of the true situation because many missing persons cases in Nigeria go undocumented.
He cited a lack of data and political will as major obstacles to proper documentation of missing persons in Nigeria.
The Boko Haram war which started in Borno State has been ongoing for about 13 years and it has spread to adjoining states like Yobe, and Adamawa, amongst others. The insurgents have kidnapped schoolchildren and women.
The Chibok and Dapchi schoolchildren abductions attracted international outcries yet there is no end in sight to the attacks by the marauders.
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