The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said Borno State alone accounts for 67 per cent of Nigeria’s 23,659 missing persons.

The disclosure was made in Yola, Adamawa State, over the weekend during an event to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

According to Benson Lee, ICRC’s protection of family link officer, most of the disappearances were linked to years of insurgency and violence in the Northeast.

“Out of the total missing persons nationwide, 67 per cent are from Borno State,” Lee said, adding: “Sadly, almost 60 per cent of them were minors at the time they went missing.”

He described the figures as alarming, noting that they reflect the devastating impact of armed conflict on families.

The ICRC said it has been working to trace and reunite missing persons with their relatives but called for greater efforts to prevent further disappearances.

“Families of the missing need to feel they are not alone and that their loved ones are not forgotten,” Lee added.

According to the ICRC, the over 23,659 people missing in Nigeria have left 13,595 families in anguish, most of them women struggling with uncertainty and hardship.

He said 68 per cent of those still searching for answers were women, while 59 per cent of those missing were minors at the time of their disappearance.

He explained that the issue of missing persons was one of the most devastating consequences of armed conflicts, disasters and migration.

Lee urged parties to conflicts, authorities and communities to take greater responsibility in preventing disappearances. (The Guardian)