Youths Now Selling Kidneys For N1.7m To Survive, That’s The Human Cost Of Tinubu’s Cost-Of-Living Crisis — Atiku Laments

Former Vice President and ADC presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, has raised alarm over reports that young Nigerians are being pushed to sell their kidneys for as little as N1.7 million, describing it as a frightening consequence of the country’s cost-of-living crisis.

In a statement on Friday, Atiku said young Nigerians were being forced to consider extreme measures simply to survive.

“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,” he said.

“Young people should be selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs.”

“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.”

Atiku blamed the rising costs of food, transportation, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity on 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.

“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.”

“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 noted that Nigeria already has laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and organ trafficking, but argued that enforcement alone would not address the poverty that exposes vulnerable youths to exploitation.

“Laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks,” Atiku said.

He called for economic reforms with a human face that directly improve living conditions.

“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. 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 added.

The statement 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.