Nigeria has Africa’s biggest number of missing people with about 25,000.
The number is part of Africa’s total number of people: 64,000 who have gone missing mostly after they were perceivably abducted in crisis situations 0r as they move around for safer places.
The figures are contained in a fact sheet distributed on Tuesday in Yola by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which hosted this year’s marking of International Day of the Disappeared in the Adamawa State capital.
In the event attended by families of the disappeared, the ICRC said the majority of Nigeria’s 25,000 victims are children, being about 14,000.
Giving a hint on how the whereabouts of the 64,000 Africans became unknown, the ICRC said: “There are over 35 active armed conflicts in Africa today. Thousands of people cross borders, the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea go off in search of safety and better life each year. Such movements often entail great risks, including the risk of disappearance.”
Butressing the points during the Yola event to mark the International Day of the Disappeared, the Head of Programmes and Prevention of ICRC, Leonard Blazeby, said the number of people disappearing across Africa continues to rise, but that his organisation which had been executing programmes to mitigate the issue, would continue to do so.
Also speaking on the occasion at the Aliyu Mustapha Academy Hall in Jimeta, Adamawa Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Lami Gada, empathised with family members enduring the trauma of missing persons.
“Missing a loved one is a fate you would not wish for anyone. It is better to see a dead body and bury it than to have to wait probably all your life for a missing relative,” the government official said.