Families of the students abducted in the Askira Uba area of Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria, are living in a state of fear and intense psychological strain, with no information on their children’s fate or the conditions they are held in by their captors.

Questions with no answers

The families’ anguish does not end with the abduction itself. It stretches into painful questions that haunt parents every day: Are our children safe? Do they have food and clean water? Are they being treated humanely? Or are they sick, frightened or suffering in ways their families cannot bear to imagine?

Food that won’t go down, sleep that won’t come

For some parents, eating or sleeping normally has become nearly impossible. How can a mother or father sit down to a meal without knowing whether their child has eaten that day? How can they sleep without knowing where their child is or what they are going through?

The families’ ordeal deepens as time passes and reliable information remains absent, with each new day bringing more anxiety and emotional collapse.

A miscarriage after the shock of abduction

Reports have spoken of a woman who suffered a miscarriage after the shock of two of her children being abducted. If confirmed, the account reveals the scale of the psychological and physical toll abductions can take — not only on victims themselves, but on parents, siblings and the wider community.

Urgent demands: information, search, rescue and support

These families need more than expressions of sympathy. They need urgent action, reliable information, psychological and humanitarian support, and serious efforts to ensure the children return home safely.

Every abducted child is a son or daughter whose family is waiting for their return, a hope for their community, and a life worth protecting. Urgent appeals are therefore being directed at the authorities, security services, humanitarian organizations and all concerned parties to intensify search and rescue operations, work to secure the children’s safe release, and provide the support these exhausted families need.

Until then, the relatives of the abducted children cling to a single hope: that their sons and daughters will return home safely as soon as possible, and that their heavy hearts will find some relief from the burden of waiting.