Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over reports that some young Nigerians are considering selling their kidneys to cope with the country’s worsening cost-of-living pressures.
Atiku expressed his concerns in a post on X on Friday, arguing that the economic situation was driving some young people towards desperate measures.
“Young people should be selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs,” he said.
The former vice president cited rising costs of food, transportation, rent, school fees, medicines and electricity as some of the pressures making life increasingly difficult for Nigerians.
He said it was particularly disturbing that some young people were reportedly prepared to sell a kidney for as little as ₦1.7 million in an attempt to meet their basic needs.
Atiku, who is the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate for the 2027 election, attributed the situation to what he described as the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He argued that young Nigerians should be concentrating on building careers, establishing businesses, raising families and pursuing their aspirations rather than considering the sale of their body organs as a means of survival.
“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,” he said.
Atiku acknowledged that Nigerian law prohibits the commercial sale of human organs and organ trafficking. However, he argued that legislation alone would not address the underlying problem if poverty and economic hardship continued to leave vulnerable people exposed to exploitation.
He also criticised the Federal Government’s economic reform programme, saying reforms should ultimately translate into better living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.
According to Atiku, effective economic reforms should make food and transport more affordable, improve access to healthcare, create decent employment opportunities and restore hope among young people.
His comments come amid recent reports and unverified claims of organ trafficking in parts of Nigeria. The claims have not, however, been independently established in the information available.
The former vice president’s remarks have renewed attention on the impact of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis on young people and other economically vulnerable groups.
