More than 350 children have gone missing from Kano State in just a few years, according to records from an association of parents whose children were abducted.
Some reports suggest the number may be even higher.
The crisis has become a deep scar on families across Northern Nigeria, as many of the children are later discovered in faraway southeastern states such as Anambra and Delta
Yet, despite the scale of the tragedy, little decisive action has been taken by state governments or national security agencies to protect children in the North from abduction and trafficking.
Umar’s life turned upside down
Umar Ibrahim Salisu is one of the lucky few who made it back home after five years in captivity.
He was abducted in 2014 from PDP Quarters, Gidan Ruwa area of Kano, while playing outside with a friend.
Speaking to Iconic Times24, Umar recounted how, upon arrival in Anambra, his captors changed his name to Onyedika before handing him over to a foster family.
There he spent half a decade, forgetting the faces of his parents and siblings.
He told Iconic Times24 that he was kidnapped while playing with his friends on the streets of PRP, and spent a night with their abductor in Kano.
“The next day, we took a bus to Anambra, and they have me to a woman who sells food.”
“I went to school, church and come to help out in the shop.”
Umar returns to Kano
Umar told our reporter than on a faithful day he was to return home, he was having a meal after returning from school when a car – which he later recognised as a police vehicle stopped and called his foster mother over.
After discussions, he was taken to another home to get the rest of the children kidnapped alongside him from Kano.
“They took us to the house where they used to keep us when we first arrived, then we took Husna and Amira.”
They later returned home to the Nigeria police for in 2019.
A father’s shattered world
For his father, Ibrahim Ahmad Salisu, the experience was nothing short of devastating.
“When Umar was finally brought back, we realized he had forgotten Islam. He would even beat other children if they tried to pray,” Ibrahim said.
He added that the years of separation tore his family apart emotionally and financially.
Even though Umar returned in 2019, there has been no structured support from government or social agencies to help children like him readjust to normal life.
Children stripped of names and identities
Umar—renamed Onyedika James during his ordeal—was just one among 10 children recovered in Anambra.
Others include Amira Auwalu, who was renamed Chinyere, and Husna, who also had her identity erased.
But for hundreds of other missing children from neighborhoods such as Kawo, Tinshama, PRP, and Haye, the wait continues.
Parents remain trapped in anguish, uncertain if they will ever see their sons and daughters again.
Only weeks ago, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu handed over 14 children rescued in Anambra to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa.
This further confirmed fears that Northern children remain highly vulnerable to abduction and forced assimilation in the Southeast.
The pressing question now is: What are Northern leaders and security agencies doing about it?
Every child lost is not just a family’s heartbreak; it is a nation’s wound. When children are stripped of their faith, their culture, and their future, the damage is far greater than individual tragedy—it threatens the very fabric of society.
