What would you hold on to if someone you loved disappeared and you had no idea what happened to them?
For Fatima, it is a ring.
She keeps the ring as a reminder of her son, who went missing amid violence in north-east Nigeria. The ring may look like an ordinary object, but for Fatima, it carries memories of a son whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Her story is just one example of the pain faced by families across Nigeria who continue to search for loved ones who disappeared during conflict and other crises.
Thousands of Families Still Waiting
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Nigerian Red Cross Society and the ICRC had about 17,000 active tracing cases involving missing people in Nigeria as of July 2026.
The organisations had worked on almost 24,000 missing-person cases over the years. But the drop to 17,000 does not mean that thousands of missing people have returned home. Instead, the figure represents cases where the Red Cross can still maintain contact with the families and continue its search. Behind every case is a family waiting for an answer.
Some families have spent years asking the same questions:
Where is my loved one?
Are they alive?
What happened to them?
The Search Can Take Years
Finding a missing person can take time.
Conflict and insecurity can make some communities difficult to reach. Displacement can also separate families and make it harder to keep track of where people have moved. The Nigerian Red Cross Society and the ICRC use different methods to search for missing people.
Their teams make phone calls, visit communities, speak with community leaders and check available records. They also help separated relatives reconnect through phone calls and other forms of communication. Sometimes, these efforts bring good news.
The ICRC recently highlighted the case of 73-year-old Baba Garba Usman, who reunited with his family in Gilsume Community in Bursari Local Government Area of Yobe State.
His reunion shows that, even after years of uncertainty, families can sometimes find the answers they have been waiting for.
But What Happens When There Is No Answer?
That is where Fatima’s story becomes especially powerful.
The ICRC does not provide details about her son’s name, age or the exact circumstances of his disappearance. What it does tell us is that Fatima still has the ring. She holds on to that small reminder while she waits for news. And that waiting can be one of the hardest parts.
When someone dies, families may eventually have the chance to mourn and begin to heal. But when someone disappears without a trace, uncertainty can remain.
There is no clear goodbye.
No definite answer.
Just hope.
More Than a Number
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement recorded more than 227,000 missing people worldwide by the end of 2025 through its Family Links Network. But the organisation says the figure does not represent everyone who has gone missing. Many families never report their cases or cannot access humanitarian services.
That means the real number could be much higher. In Nigeria, the 17,000 active cases represent thousands of families carrying their own stories of loss, hope and uncertainty.
Fatima’s ring reminds us that behind every statistic is a person and behind every missing person is someone who is still waiting.
The Question That Remains
For Fatima, that waiting continues. The ring cannot tell her where her son is. It cannot explain what happened. But it keeps his memory close and perhaps that is what makes her story so difficult to forget.
Because somewhere across north-east Nigeria, and in many other parts of the country, there are families still looking at photographs, holding on to personal belongings and hoping that one day, someone will bring them an answer.
Until that day comes, the search continues — and so does the hope.
