FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised the alarm over what he described as a growing trend of young Nigerians selling their kidneys to survive amid the country’s cost-of-living crisis, blaming President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies for the development.
News Point Nigeria reports that Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), raised the concern in a post on X on Thursday, saying he had heard “disturbing stories” of young Nigerians resorting to selling parts of their bodies, particularly kidneys, in desperate attempts to raise money.
In the post, Atiku said young Nigerians ought to be “selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs,” adding that the development should “offend the conscience of every Nigerian.”
“I have heard disturbing stories about the extent to which young Nigerians are being driven simply to survive. Perhaps the most horrifying are the growing reports of young people selling parts of their bodies: kidneys in particular, in desperate attempts to raise money,” Atiku wrote.
He claimed that young Nigerians were reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million, although he did not attribute the figure to any specific report or agency.
News Point Nigeria could not independently verify the figure as of the time of this report.
Atiku linked the alleged trend to the rising cost of living under the Tinubu administration, listing food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity among items that have become increasingly unaffordable for ordinary Nigerians.
“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.
“Yet young Nigerians are reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million.
“Young Nigerians should be building careers, starting businesses, raising families and pursuing their dreams, not calculating how much parts of their bodies can fetch simply to stay alive.
“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.”
The former Vice President acknowledged that Nigeria already has laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and organ trafficking, but argued that “laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks.”
He called for economic reforms with “a human face,” including affordable food, cheaper transportation, accessible healthcare, decent jobs and “renewed hope for the next generation.”
Atiku capped his statement with a direct political jab at the President, declaring: “Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again.”
His remarks come amid a spate of reports and unverified claims about organ trafficking in parts of the country in recent weeks. The Nigeria Police Force recently paraded four suspects, including two nephrologists, over an alleged organ-harvesting and human-trafficking syndicate operating in Nasarawa State.
Police said one of the suspects, Emmanuel Ode, allegedly admitted to recruiting victims and disclosed that a 22-year-old man, Samuel Ezekiel, was lured to Wellington Hospital, Life Camp, Abuja, on April 24, 2026, where his kidney was allegedly harvested for $1,250, equivalent to about ₦1.7 million.
Investigators said the alleged syndicate targeted vulnerable and financially desperate young people in Nasarawa and neighbouring areas, allegedly exploiting their economic difficulties to obtain consent for illegal organ harvesting.