Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has condemned reports of young Nigerians selling their kidneys to survive, describing the development as one of the most disturbing consequences of the country’s worsening cost-of-living crisis.
In statement made available to The News Chronicle, Atiku said young Nigerians should be “selling dreams, ideas and innovation” rather than parts of their bodies, warning that the reported rise in organ sales reflects desperation that should “offend the conscience of every Nigerian.”
He made the remarks in a statement while reacting to reports that some young Nigerians were allegedly selling their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million.
According to him, the increasing cost of food, transportation, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity has pushed many Nigerians into desperate circumstances.
“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,” he said.
Atiku argued that when young Nigerians begin to regard their kidneys as “emergency savings,” the country has moved beyond ordinary economic hardship into a dangerous level of desperation.
He noted that Nigeria has laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and trafficking, but maintained that legislation alone cannot address the poverty and desperation that expose vulnerable citizens to criminal networks.
“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,” Atiku said.
He called for economic policies with a human face, including measures to make food and transportation more affordable, improve access to healthcare, create decent jobs and restore hope among young Nigerians.
“Our young people should be selling their ideas, talents and innovation to the world and not their kidneys for ₦1.7 million just to survive at home,” he said.
Atiku described the alleged kidney sales as the human cost of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, before drawing a sharp contrast between his economic vision and that of the Tinubu administration.
“Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again,” he declared.
