Northeast Nigeria families still hunt for relatives vanished amid years of conflict

More than fifteen years after his sister Falmata Mohammed disappeared en route to Port Harcourt, Kashim Mohammed still hopes for answers, while his brother Muhammad Alhaji Bashir searches for his missing sibling Bakura, who vanished amid the Boko Haram crisis. Both men describe how violence, abductions and displacement have left their families without closure. Their experiences reflect estimates of about 10,000 missing people in Borno State and 17,000 across northern Nigeria, figures cited by one outlet advocates and the Association for the Well-being of Displaced and Missing Persons’ Families.

The association, registered in 2025, meets monthly, receives leads from the Red Cross, and supports roughly 600 orphaned children affected by disappearances. Recent floods in Maiduguri erased many family photographs, a vital tool for identifying rescued individuals. Despite these obstacles, the families continue to appeal for any information that could reveal the fate of their missing relatives.