Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has warned that reports of young Nigerians selling their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million point to a frightening level of desperation linked to the cost of living.
Atiku made the warning on X on Friday, saying young Nigerians were reportedly turning to organ sales as they struggle to raise money for basic needs.
He said the situation showed how economic hardship could make an extreme option appear possible to vulnerable people.
He said, “Young people should be selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs.”
Atiku ties organ sales to household hardship
Atiku listed food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity among the things he said had become more expensive in Nigeria.
He said the pressure was affecting young Nigerians who should be building careers, starting businesses, raising families and pursuing their ambitions.
Atiku said, “When young Nigerians begin to see their kidneys as emergency savings, we are no longer talking about ordinary economic hardship.”
He said Nigeria was dealing with “desperation at its most frightening”.
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Atiku also referred to reports that some young Nigerians were selling their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million.
He said such reports should concern the country because an organ sale cannot be treated like an ordinary way of raising money.
Atiku said young people should be able to earn money through their ideas, skills and businesses. He said they should not have to consider selling parts of their bodies to pay for food, rent or education.
His comments came in a post that connected organ sales with the pressure created by the cost of living.
Atiku said, “That should break the heart of a nation.”
Laws alone cannot address desperation, Atiku says
Atiku noted that Nigeria already has laws against commercial organ sales and organ trafficking.
He, however, said laws alone could not solve the poverty and desperation that leave vulnerable young people open to criminal networks.
His warning therefore focused not only on organ sales but also on the conditions that he said could lead young people towards such choices.
He said economic reforms should produce affordable food, cheaper transportation, accessible healthcare, decent jobs and renewed hope for young Nigerians.
He also criticised the celebration of government reforms when, in his view, young Nigerians were reportedly being pushed towards selling body organs to survive.
He said, “No government should celebrate ‘reforms’ while young Nigerians are being reduced to selling parts of themselves to eat, pay rent, settle school fees or survive.”
The former vice-president called for an economic approach that gives greater consideration to how ordinary Nigerians live and meet basic needs.
He said, “Economic reform must have a human face.”
He ended his post by contrasting the situation he described with his own promise on affordability.
He said, “Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again.”
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