Families of people who disappeared during more than a decade of conflict in north-eastern Nigeria are still searching for answers, with some relatives having died before learning what happened to their loved ones.
In Maiduguri, Borno State, Kashim Mohammed has spent more than 15 years hoping that his younger sister, Falmata, is alive. She vanished in 2011 while travelling with their mother from Maiduguri to Port Harcourt, after the two women were reportedly abducted by unidentified gunmen.
A possible lead briefly raised the family’s hopes. A man approached Mr Mohammed at Baga Road Market and said Falmata had been found in Benin and was trying to trace her relatives.
But he disappeared without leaving contact details, and the family has never established whether the information was genuine.
“From then until now, nobody knows anything about the man who brought the information,” Mr Mohammed said.
Mr Mohammed, 39, now chairs the Association for the Well-being of Displaced and Missing Persons’ Families, a community organisation based in Maiduguri’s Bolori II area. He said his father, Mohammed Kolo, died aged 60 from an illness the family attributed to high blood pressure without discovering what had happened to Falmata.
Mr Kolo, who worked at Maiduguri’s State Specialist Hospital, had continued to believe that his daughter would return.
“Our father always said, ‘Wherever she is, I believe my daughter is alive,’” Mr Mohammed recalled.
Families searching for missing relatives
Muhammad Alhaji Bashir has faced a similar uncertainty since his elder brother, Adam Muhammad Bashir, disappeared around 2012 or 2013.
Known as Bakura, he was in his early 20s, sold cosmetics in a Maiduguri market and was studying civil engineering at Ramat Polytechnic, according to his brother. Muhammad was about 14 when he went missing.
“I sincerely lost my brother as a result of the Boko Haram crisis,” said Mr Bashir, now 29.
The family searched across Maiduguri and repeatedly visited a rehabilitation centre in Bulumkutu after hearing that people rescued from conflict areas had been taken there.
“Whenever we heard that rescued people had been brought to the rehabilitation centre in Bulumkutu, we went there with Bakura’s pictures, but unfortunately, nobody recognised him,” Mr Bashir said.
His father and stepmother, who was Bakura’s mother, later died from illnesses the family attributed to hypertension. Mr Bashir and other relatives have continued looking, without knowing whether Bakura is alive or dead.
Boko Haram’s armed rebellion began in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009, bringing attacks, abductions and widespread displacement. Some people disappeared during assaults on their communities, while others became separated from relatives as they fled violence or travelled between towns.
Families have searched hospitals, displacement camps and centres receiving people rescued from conflict areas. Leads can be difficult to verify, and even when names, photographs and personal details are passed to organisations involved in tracing missing people, reunions can take time.
Missing people in Borno State
The International Committee of the Red Cross, working with the Nigerian Red Cross Society, has supported efforts to trace missing people and reconnect families.
Local advocates have cited an estimate of 17,000 missing people across northern Nigeria, many linked to the Boko Haram conflict and its aftermath. Mr Mohammed said his association’s records suggested that about 10,000 people were missing in Borno State alone, while acknowledging that many families had yet to register their relatives.
The geographical coverage, reporting periods and methods behind those estimates have not been independently established.
Mr Mohammed said his own search for Falmata helped lead affected families to establish their association in 2023. It obtained registration with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission in 2025, and members now meet each month to share information and discuss their circumstances.
Some families have reported losing eight or nine relatives, he said. The association also assists about 600 orphaned children from affected families, although some have left school because relatives cannot afford their education or other basic needs.
“We are now suffering because of the harsh living conditions,” Mr Mohammed said, adding that the Red Cross had distributed relief items to some families.
When a missing person was a parent or breadwinner, relatives were left facing lost income as well as the cost of food, shelter and schooling. The association’s work has therefore expanded from tracing relatives to helping families cope with the consequences of their disappearance.
Floods destroy vital photographs
Searches became more difficult for some families after severe flooding struck parts of Maiduguri in 2024. Mr Mohammed said floodwaters submerged parts of Ngarnam and destroyed photographs kept to help identify missing relatives.
Photographs can be crucial when families search for people who have been rescued, displaced or found in unfamiliar communities. Without them, relatives may have to rely on names, physical descriptions and memories.
For Mr Mohammed, the uncertainty surrounding Falmata has shaped his family’s life since 2011. The report that she had been found in Benin remains unconfirmed, while the father who refused to give up hope has died.
Mr Bashir’s search for Bakura continues without the parents who once helped him look. Both families are appealing to anyone with information about their missing relatives.
“Falmata Mohammed, if you are alive anywhere in this world, we are the family of late Mohammed Kolo in Bolori II, Ngarnam. We are waiting for you,” Mr Mohammed said.
