Illegal organ harvesting in Nigeria is booming, brutal and becoming an oil well for ruthless syndicates who smile to the bank while vulnerable children pay with their lives and health.
What used to be whispered as rumour is now a national emergency, with experts warning that Nigeria may soon be flooded with young people suffering kidney-related complications.
Lured By A Friend, Woke Up With A Scar
Oluwatobi Salaudeen, a secondary school leaver desperate for a job, is one of the lucky survivors.
He received a call from a friend about a job opening. He rushed down the next day. Instead of a workplace, he was taken for a scan and made to sign a document. He was told to sleep over.
“When I was sleeping at night, my friend came and woke me. He said we should walk into the theatre. When we entered, I was given some injections that made me fall asleep,” he recounted.
He woke up with a stitched scar on his stomach. His kidney was gone.
The promised N1 million never came in full. Part of it was sent to a phone that suddenly got “lost”. Another N500,000 was sent to a phone vendor who only gave him N220,000. He paid from his pocket to remove his stitches and transport himself to Lagos.
Yet on the black market, that same kidney sells for N50 million to N70 million to foreign patients.
The Scale Of The Horror
A consultant nephrologist at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Prof. Aliyu Abdu, revealed that 651 kidneys were illegally harvested and transplanted in Nigeria between 2015 and 2020.
Globally, about 10,000 kidneys are sold yearly on the black market. DW ranks Nigeria among Africa’s top five hotspots alongside Egypt, Libya, South Africa and Kenya.
And the victims are abandoned.
“Many donors are abandoned after surgery and left to suffer long-term complications and emotional trauma,” Prof. Abdu said. Data from The Lancet shows 30% of victims die within a year.
Poverty, Deception And Secret Operations
Musa Yahaya was mocked at home for being jobless. A friend told him there is a hospital where they “put something” and pay N1 million. His kidney was harvested.
Samuel Ezekiel’s friend Emmanuel Odey made him change his name to Hassan Abubakar, collected $1,250 from donors, and bought phones with the money while Samuel was still in theatre.
In another chilling case streamed by activist VeryDarkMan, a boy who went to hospital for treatment discovered his left kidney had been secretly removed.
A Warning For The Future
Nephrologist Dr. Zumnan Gimba warned that the gap between demand and supply is fueling the crisis.
“There’s a demand for organs, but the supply is not enough. When someone struggling to make ends meet gets an offer of a couple of millions, it becomes very tempting,” he said.
He fears what comes next: “If it is not regulated, a parent can because there’s no money say, come and harvest the organ of one child.”
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, has confirmed the menace is now an issue of national concern, with victims suffering complications and health facilities under prosecution.
Spokesman Vincent Adekoye said syndicates target uneducated, desperate youths in disadvantaged communities, deceiving and trafficking them to secret facilities with no informed consent.
