Nigeria is responsible for half of Africa’s missing people: FG

According to the Federal Government, more than 23,000 people have vanished in Nigeria under various conditions, including insurgency and kidnapping, in less than ten years.

According to Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, this statistic reflects half of individuals who went missing in Africa during the same time period.

On August 30, Edu made this disclosure while addressing at a celebration of the International Day of the Disappeared at the National Human Rights Commission.

The minister made the observation while being represented by the Director of Humanitarian Affairs, Ali Grema, that a more effective framework was required to enhance the reporting and forensically trace cases of missing persons in the nation.

According to reports, the ICRC and the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) have recorded more than 25,000 people missing in Nigeria in less than ten years as a result of the insurgency in the North East. This is equivalent to half of all the missing people in Africa.

“Today, there are still over 23,000 people missing. To increase reporting and forensically locate cases of missing persons, a more effective method is required, therefore this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. The precise number of people going missing in the nation has not yet been calculated, according to Edu.

She asserted that the plan would boost the nation’s mechanism to address issues of missing persons effectively and efficiently and pledged to ensure domestication of international treaties and instruments utilising a whole society and government approach.

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The ministry official has previously lamented the absence of a reliable method for tracking the exact number of missing people in Nigeria. In January 2023, Sadiya Farouk, a former minister, said that there was no official missing persons database in the nation.

Farouk stated, “At the moment, Nigeria lacks a national structure or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to address the humanitarian consequences of disappearances,” who was speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Nasir Gwarzo.

“Since there is no official record, there is no credible national data on the number of missing persons in Nigeria.

She continued, “It is absolutely obvious why Nigeria as a nation and this ministry are very worried about this unfortunate and much ignored humanitarian and societal crisis.