Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised a chilling alarm over Nigeria’s deepening economic hardship, saying desperate young Nigerians are allegedly being pushed to the extreme of selling their kidneys for money.
In a statement issued on Friday, September 4, Atiku described the reports as one of the most disturbing signs of the pressure facing ordinary Nigerians.
He said young people should be using their talents, skills and creativity to build businesses, pursue careers and secure their futures—not turning to their own bodies as a desperate source of income.
Atiku claimed that some youths were allegedly being offered as little as ₦1.7 million for a kidney, although the figure has not been independently verified.
The former vice president linked the alleged organ sales to the crushing cost of living, pointing to soaring food prices, transportation costs, rent, school fees, healthcare expenses and electricity bills as pressures stretching households beyond their limits.
He argued that when people struggle to afford basic necessities, desperation can force them into choices they might once have considered unimaginable.
For Atiku, the alleged kidney sales are therefore more than a criminal justice issue. He said they represent a warning about the human cost of poverty, unemployment and economic distress.
Nigeria already has laws prohibiting the commercial sale and trafficking of human organs. But Atiku maintained that tougher enforcement alone cannot address the desperation that makes vulnerable people susceptible to exploitation.
He called for policies that would ease the burden on ordinary Nigerians, including lower food and transportation costs, affordable healthcare and greater access to decent jobs.
The reports of alleged kidney sales, he suggested, should serve as a stark warning: when survival becomes a daily struggle, desperation can take people to unimaginable places.
Atiku Sounds Alarm: ‘Nigerians Are Selling Kidneys to Survive’
