Borno state tops missing persons list — ICRC

By Precious Mark

Borno State accounts for the highest concentration of missing persons cases in Nigeria, even as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) updated its active nationwide database, reducing the figure from 24,000 to approximately 17,000.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, the ICRC Protection Coordinator, Delfine Bermijn, explained that armed conflict in the North East remains the main driver of disappearances, with Borno State generating the majority of requests from affected families.

“If we are talking about conflict-related cases, it is definitely the North East. A significant number of families in Borno State reached out to us for help,” said Delfine Bermijn, Protection Coordinator at the ICRC.

Bermijn noted that while Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno states are the most affected by insurgency, the organization had to revise its national figures after losing contact with thousands of registered families over time.

“For many years, we recorded that we had approximately 24,000 missing people, meaning individuals who were known to us as missing because their families approached us at some point. However, over the years, we gradually realized that we were losing contact with many of them,” Bermijn said.

To re-establish communication, humanitarian teams deployed multiple search methods across affected communities, though many families could no longer be located.

“We tried to reach out to them sending bulk SMS messages, visiting their homes, and calling them but they were often out of reach or completely inaccessible,” Bermijn explained.

She stressed that without active communication with relatives, aid workers cannot effectively trace missing individuals, making a database cleanup essential for operational transparency.

“So, as a humanitarian organization, we had to be transparent. For those families with whom we lost contact, we had to set their cases aside to actively focus on searching for the approximately 17,000 missing individuals whose families we are still in contact with,” Bermijn stated.

Addressing differences in situations across other geopolitical zones, such as the South West, South South, and South East, Bermijn clarified that disappearances outside the North East stem from different drivers, including migration.

She added that while the ICRC mandate focuses strictly on conflict zones in the North East, the Nigerian Red Cross Society manages cases across all other parts of the country.

“In the North East, disappearances are mainly conflict-related, and as the International Committee of the Red Cross, our mandate is linked primarily to conflict. However, across the rest of the country, the Nigerian Red Cross operates branches. Anyone with a missing relative in those areas should contact the Nigerian Red Cross,” Bermijn said.