Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday raised concern over reports that some young Nigerians were selling their kidneys for as little as N1.7m amid the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
Atiku, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, said in a statement that the reported development showed how economic hardship was pushing vulnerable youths towards desperate measures.
He said young Nigerians should be using their talents and creativity to build better lives rather than considering the sale of body organs to survive.
“Young people should be selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs,” Atiku said.
He described the reported kidney sales as a disturbing consequence of worsening economic pressure.
“When the cost-of-living crisis becomes unbearable, desperation begins to make the unthinkable appear like an option. That should offend the conscience of every Nigerian,” he said.
Atiku attributed the rising cost of food, transportation, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity to the economic direction of the Bola Tinubu administration.
“In Tinubu’s Nigeria, almost everything required to live with dignity is becoming more expensive by the day: food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity,” he said.
The former Vice President said the reported sale of kidneys for N1.7m represented more than ordinary economic hardship.
“Yet young Nigerians are reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as N1.7 million. That should break the heart of a nation,” he said.
He added, “When young Nigerians begin to see their kidneys as emergency savings, we are no longer talking about ordinary economic hardship. We are talking about desperation at its most frightening.”
Atiku noted that Nigerian laws prohibit commercial organ sales and organ trafficking.
He, however, argued that enforcement alone would not address the poverty and desperation that could expose vulnerable Nigerians to exploitation.
“Laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks,” he said.
He called for economic reforms that would directly improve the living conditions of Nigerians.
“Economic reform must have a human face. It must mean affordable food, cheaper transportation, accessible healthcare, decent jobs and renewed hope for the next generation,” Atiku said.
He added, “Our young people should be selling their ideas, talents and innovation to the world and not their kidneys for N1.7 million just to survive at home.”
“This is the human cost of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis,” he said.
The concern comes amid reports of alleged kidney sales and a recent police investigation into an alleged organ-harvesting and human-trafficking operation involving four suspects, including two nephrologists.