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High living cost driving youths to sell their kidneys — Atiku
Former Nigerian vice-president Atiku Abubakar has decried reports of Nigerians selling their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million.
Atiku blamed the situation on high living cost in the country, stating that young Nigerians were being forced to consider extreme measures for the sake of survival.
“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,” the former vice-president added.
He blamed the rising costs of food and other basic services in the country on the current economic policies of the Federal Government.
“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.
“Yet young Nigerians are reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 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,” Atiku lamented.
He stressed that enforcement of laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and organ trafficking, would not be sufficient to address the kind of poverty that results in such exploitation.
“Laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks.
“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 ₦1.7 million just to survive at home.
“This is the human cost of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis.”
There have been recent reports of alleged kidney sales, organ-harvesting and human-trafficking operation in the country.
