The Executive Director of CLEEN foundation, Dr. Benson Olugbuo, has quoted the International Committee Red Cross (ICRC), saying 22,000 persons have been declared missing from Nigeria within the last 10 years.
This is reportedly the highest record in Africa so far.
Olugbuo, who spoke at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) headquarters on Monday in Abuja in commemoration of the 2021 International Day of the Disappeared, said the highest case recorded was in 2014 when girls from the Government Girls College, Chibok, also known as Chibok girls were kidnapped from their school by the Boko Haram insurgents.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that the nearly 22,000 Nigerians constituted the highest number of missing persons registered with the organization in any country.
60 percent of the total were minors at the time they went missing, meaning that thousands of parents do not know where their children are and if they are alive or dead, according to the Red Cross.
“Every parent’s worst nightmare is not knowing where their child is. This is the tragic reality for thousands of Nigerian parents, leaving them with the anguish of a constant search,” ICRC President Peter Maurer said at the end of a five-day visit to Nigeria.
“People have the right to know the fate of their loved ones, and more needs to be done to prevent families from being separated in the first place.”
Maurer met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, senior government officials, civil society and business leaders.
He also spoke with family members affected by the conflict in the northeastern cities of Maiduguri and Monguno, many of whom have missing relatives.
“The ICRC works with the Nigeria Red Cross and other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in the region to trace missing people by showing photographs, calling out names and going door-to-door in camps and communities,”
“So far, 367 cases have been solved since ICRC received its first cases in 2013, underscoring the immense challenges that come with finding missing people and reconnecting them with their families in Nigeria,” part of the statement read.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, also lamented that Nigeria has the highest case of missing persons in Africa hence, urged that the present administration were on their toes to curb the situation.
