ICRC: 1,500+ Still Missing In Yobe Out Of 17,000 Cases Nationwide, Over 50% Are Children
The International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, says it is following up on more than 1,500 cases of missing persons in Yobe State.
Head of ICRC Sub-Delegation in Damaturu, Syed Rashid Hassan, disclosed this Thursday in Damaturu at an event to commemorate 2026 International Day of the Disappeared.
Hassan said Yobe cases formed part of more than 17,000 missing-person cases being followed up by ICRC across Nigeria, with more than half being children at time of disappearance, noting figures could be only a fraction of the actual number.
According to him, more than 513,000 people were registered as missing worldwide through the Family Links Network of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement by the end of 2025.
He described missing persons as one of most devastating and long-lasting consequences of armed conflict, violence, disasters and migration, saying disappearance leaves families facing emotional, psychological, economic, legal and administrative difficulties.
Hassan said ICRC was working with Nigerian Red Cross Society, government authorities and other stakeholders to prevent family separation, reunite families, clarify fate and whereabouts, protect dignity of dead and improve systems for documenting unidentified bodies.
He disclosed ICRC launched an accompaniment programme in Damaturu to help families cope with psychological and psychosocial effects, with more than 50 families supported so far.
“Today, many families are still living in uncertainty, causing agony and unspeakable suffering,” he said, calling for stronger efforts to search for missing persons and provide answers, stronger national legal frameworks, improved medico-legal systems and mechanisms for determining fate.
He commended Yobe SEMA, Ministry of Justice’s Justice Sector Reform Team, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education through Yobe SUBEB, and community leaders. He said SEMA supported implementation of nationals mass-fatality response plan, Justice Sector Reform Team reviewing coroner’s law, while YBSUBEB agreed to incorporate messages on preventing family separation into primary schools.
Speaking on behalf of families, Chairman of Families of the Missing, Ali Idris, said families live between hope and uncertainty, affecting emotional wellbeing, livelihoods and relationships.
“Our needs go beyond finding our missing loved ones. Yes, we need answers. We need continued efforts to search for and clarify the fate and whereabouts of those who are missing. But we also need support for the families who have been left behind,” he said, appealing to authorities to open doors to families and provide coordinated support.
