The disturbing reports of kidney harvesting and organ trafficking particularly around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and neighbouring Nasarawa State is a sad reflection on the broader failures in public health infrastructure and oversight functions in Nigeria. This illicit business involves private hospitals working with network of agents who recruit vulnerable young people often from low-income satellite communities to either deceptively harvest or get them sell their kidneys.
In a case which gained attention lately, a young man discovered a missing kidney after a procedure. On August 9, 2026, operatives of Nigeria Police Force’s Special Tactical Squad arrested four suspects in Auta Balefi, Karu LGA, Nasarawa State. The four include an alleged recruiter and medical doctors linked to a hospital at Life Camp, Abuja. Police said one of them has already confessed to luring a 22-year-old to the hospital in April 2026 where a kidney was harvested for about N1.7 million. Another alleged victim from 2022 reportedly received N7 million.
But it was a three-month undercover investigation by Daily Trust titled ‘Inside Abuja’s Kidney ‘Market’ Where The Rich Prey On The Poor’ that exposed the shadow economy of illegal organ trafficking operating in the FCT and the neighbouring Nasarawa State communities of Mararaba and Masaka.
This inhuman trade is widespread because the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and other illnesses exacerbates kidney diseases which drives replacement therapy.
A 2025 review reported that approximately 11 per cent to 19 per cent of adults in Nigeria live with chronic kidney disease (CKD), meaning roughly one in every seven to eight people is affected. Studies and reviews show higher rates are often observed among older adults and females. Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that 674 million people are living with chronic kidney disease, with most affected people in low- and middle-income countries.
Between 2015 and 2020, data presented by medical experts indicates that at least 651 kidneys were trafficked and illegally transplanted in Nigeria. Globally, it is estimated that thousands of kidneys are sold illegally around the world every year. Reports indicate that individual kidneys in the underground Nigerian market have been sold for amounts from N1 million (in low-income targeted recruitment) up to N7 million for direct donors, while being resold downstream sometimes for foreign patients for between N50 million to N70 million.
Largely, the fertile ground for this is effectuated by lack of functional organ banks, absence of deceased (cadaveric) donation programmes, and weak enforcement of the National Health Act of 2014 which was meant to regulate organ donation and transplantation in the country. Yet, this is a dangerous business that is not excusable under any circumstances.
Daily Trust calls for immediate and full implementation of all provisions of the National Health Act especially the areas that address consent, commercial trade, and authorisation. In fact, Section 48 of the Act on Informed Consent mandates that tissue or organs (including kidneys) can only be removed from a living person with the appropriate informed consent of the donor. The law also strictly prohibits the sale, buying, or commercial trade of human organs and tissues for financial gain, while requiring that transplant and removal procedures take place only in authorised hospitals or health facilities by registered medical practitioners. Recent reports underscore the failure to implement stronger regulation and enforcement of transplant standards as specified in the Act.
We hereby urge the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to treat organ commercialism as an issue of critical national concern by enforcing Section 20 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 which gives it the statutory power to investigate, arrest, and prosecute networks involved in human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal.
It should collaborate closely with the Police to track and dismantle organ harvesting syndicates while working with parental and youth groups in helping their members in looking out for fraudulent employment or educational offers that act as fronts for organ harvesting.
We also urge NAPTIP to lead in sustained undercover operations against perpetrators while ensuring rapid response to reported cases and prosecution of traffickers, medical facilitators and others involved in the abominable business. All perpetrators must face the law to serve as deterrent to others.
Moreover, there should be expansion of access to early prevention and treatment of kidney diseases through ensuring a transparent national transplant register and waiting lists in order to ensure that legitimate needs are met through ethical channels rather than the illegal black market. We also urge the implementation of enlightenment campaigns using mainstream and social media, community, religious and traditional leaders towards creating awareness on the evils of organ harvesting. We implore credible NGOs and advocacy groups to increase their focus on anti-trafficking and organ ethical standards.
Government should also increase access to poverty alleviation measures and creation of social safety nets which will reduce the number of people who may be tempted to sell their organs for survival. We insist that the wrongful practices of underground medical black market organ trafficking must stop.