By Reloaded News Human Angle Desk

About 17,000 missing-person cases remain under active tracing in Nigeria, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said.

The figure was disclosed by ICRC spokesperson Aliyu Dawobe during a media roundtable on humanitarian reporting in Lagos.

The organisation previously had about 24,000 cases on its tracing register. But the reduction does not mean that 7,000 missing Nigerians have been found.

According to the ICRC, some families who initially reported their relatives missing have become unreachable, making it impossible to continue following up those cases.

For families still searching, the uncertainty can last for years.

The ICRC said family separation remains one of the most severe consequences of conflict and displacement in Nigeria, carrying emotional, social and economic consequences for those left behind.

The organisation urged journalists to keep victims and their families at the centre of humanitarian reporting.

Behind the 17,000 figure are thousands of individual stories of people whose relatives do not know whether they are alive, where they are or what happened to them.