10/12/2023
undercover to expose a shadow economy of illegal kidney trade in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.…
Inside Abuja’s Kidney ‘Market’ Where The Rich Prey On The Poor
In this three-month long investigation, Daily Trust on Sunday went undercover to expose a shadow economy of illegal kidney trade in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. One million naira is the ‘official’ price for a kidney in the black-market. This investigation uncovered a cell of kidney agents that have been planted in satellite communities to target and lure young men from low economic backgrounds to sell their kidneys. The growing trend of kidney harvesting has, however, raised the question of why the Nigerian Medical Association, the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council, or even the Ministry of Health have not taken action against defaulting hospitals in this trade despite a series of media reports linking a hospital with illegal kidney transplant practices.
As the rising sun ushers a bright morning in the bustling Mararaba community, a satellite town that stretches along the Keffi-Abuja highway into Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, the streets spark of the usual density of street vendors, vehicles and motorcycles that provide a mixed recipe of chaos, lowlife and vigour.
Among its thousands of residents, many from low economic backgrounds, Mararaba boasts of an explosive youth population from a blend of Nigeria’s multi-cultural identities, who have migrated from various parts of the country for a chance to break the shackles of poverty.
Today, Mararaba in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, is a thriving community with many offshoots where everything is sold on its streets, including human kidneys.
It was here in Tudun Wada, an area of Mararaba that Aminu Yahuza contemplated su***de in June 2023. Aminu is a 25-year-old unemployed Nigerian with many financial troubles. To alleviate his troubles, he had approached his 23-year-old cousin, Abbas Yusuf to link him up with a kidney agent.
Having sold his kidney to a “South African” female patient in June 2022, Abbas, a resident of Mararaba quickly called his friend, Abdulrahman, who works as an agent to let him know there was a new ‘donor’ on the waiting list.
Soon, Aminu’s blood sample was requested, and a few days later, his kidney was harvested at a private hospital in Abuja and implanted into a waiting patient. With the payment of N1million for his kidney, Aminu Yahuza was a happy man until two of his friends duped him of half the money.
“I have lost my kidney, I have no money or job, and I no longer have the strength to do any strenuous work,” he told our reporter on a Thursday morning in September. “I just thought I should end it,” he said of his earlier suicidal thoughts.
Aminu’s cousin, Abbas had sold his kidney for N1.2m last year, the highest anyone among his peers had received for their kidney. He was lured by two of his friends, Abdulrahman and Habib; two brothers who have equally sold a kidney each. But beyond that, the two brothers are part of an unknown number of local kidney agents recruited by a Lagos-based kidney broker. Their job was to target and lure young boys and youths from low economic backgrounds to sell their kidneys.
In this investigation, Daily Trust on Sunday provides insight into a shadow economy of illegal kidney trade that may have thrived for many years out of public sight. This newspaper reveals that N1m is the ‘official’ price for a kidney in the black market, and Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges continue to push many young, able-bodied men to sell their kidneys without minding the long
