The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has said that about 23,659 people are missing from across Nigeria.
The ICRC specifically noted that in spite of efforts to get the missing people back to their families after separation which were forced mostly by armed conflicts and other forms of violence, a large number are still missing or have disappeared without any trace.
Mr Benson Lee, the ICRC Protection of Family Link Officer, who stated these on Saturday, August 30, 2025, in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, in a message during this year’s International Day of the Disappeared, emphasised that cases of missing persons are particularly rampant in Borno State, where insurgency has been most severe.
He further said that 67 per cent of the number of missing persons in Nigeria occurred in Borno State, adding that about 59 percent of the missing persons were minors at the time of disappearance.
Lee also said that the organisation has been behind retracing of several missing persons and reuniting them with their families, and urged all parties of conflict to make every effort to prevent people from going missing.
The ICRC official appealed for empathy for families of missing people, stressing that families of missing persons need to feel that they are not alone and their loved ones are not forgotten.
