The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nigeria has held a conference for families of missing persons across three hubs in Northeast Nigeria — Damaturu, Maiduguri, and Mubi — for the fourth global edition of the International Conference for Families of Missing Persons (FoM). These gatherings formed part of a worldwide event involving participants across 50 hubs, all connected by one painful bond: the absence of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.
The conference, organized by the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency in partnership with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, created a rare safe environment where families affected by conflict, migration, and violence could speak openly about their grief. It offered a community where participants could share stories, find emotional support, and reflect on the long, exhausting journey that comes with searching for a missing family member.
Among those present was Sadiya Abubakar, Vice Chairperson of the Family Association in Yola, Adamawa State. For more than a decade, she has been searching for her son. Her experience mirrors that of many families in the region — a mixture of emotional distress, psychological strain, financial hardship, and the legal complications that come with unresolved disappearances. She emphasized that the pain of “not knowing” is a wound that never fully closes.
Nigeria continues to grapple with a deeply troubling missing-persons crisis. Since conflict intensified in the Northeast, the ICRC has recorded an exceptionally high number of disappearances — the largest caseload in Africa. Thousands of families are still searching for answers about the fate of their loved ones.
For many families, the greatest burden is the feeling of suffering alone. This was echoed by Ali Idriss in Damaturu, who has been searching for his younger brother for more than eight years after he disappeared at the age of 19.
Similarly, Habiba shared the emotional weight her family has carried. She recalled how her late father, even in his final moments, called out the name of her brother who vanished a decade earlier. She described how speaking about her father’s pain with others at the conference brought her unexpected strength and renewed hope.
The ICRC continues to push for greater visibility for missing-persons issues in Nigeria and advocates for community spaces where families can receive consistent support. The organization’s accompaniment program in Nigeria provides psychosocial care, legal assistance, and economic help to affected families, including livelihood support and access to information and services. These initiatives aim to rebuild stability in families fractured by uncertainty.
In Maiduguri, Aisha Alhaji Kaura, who has been searching for her husband, expressed her surprise at learning that some countries formally recognize and support associations of families of missing persons. She voiced her hope that Nigeria would adopt similar practices to help families like hers navigate the long road to answers.
Throughout the conference, participants shared deeply personal testimonies of love, loss, and hope — powerful reminders that behind every missing-person statistic is a family holding on to memories and fighting for closure.