Atiku Links Kidney-Sale Reports To Economic Hardship

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has blamed Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis for what he described as reports of young people selling kidneys and other body organs to raise money.

Atiku made the claim in a post on X, where he criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and said young Nigerians should be building careers and ideas, not considering the sale of body organs as a means of survival.

Punch reported that Atiku cited alleged kidney sales for as little as N1.7 million, but said it could not independently verify that figure. The kidney-sale figure should therefore be read as Atiku’s claim, not as an independently established number.

Daily Post also reported the statement, including Atiku’s argument that rising costs for food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity had deepened hardship for many Nigerians.

Atiku said existing laws against commercial organ sales and organ trafficking were not enough if poverty left vulnerable young people exposed to criminal networks. He argued that economic policy should improve living conditions rather than leave citizens in desperation.

Sources: Punch, Daily Post