How Nigerians sell own kidneys abroad
A meeting was immediately set up by Eghosa’s South African acquaintance with the middle-man in a restaurant, where in an atmosphere he describes as routine, a direct offer was made to him. “The man just flat-out made an offer to me,” wrote Eghosa to Weekly Trust in an e-mail. “He offered the equivalent of about […]
A meeting was immediately set up by Eghosa’s South African acquaintance with the middle-man in a restaurant, where in an atmosphere he describes as routine, a direct offer was made to him. “The man just flat-out made an offer to me,” wrote Eghosa to Weekly Trust in an e-mail. “He offered the equivalent of about $10, 000.00 so I agreed.”
The man Eghosa describes as having a professional mien now proceeded to lay out the risk involved in the operation. But there was no real need for him to do so because Eghosa’s desperation and need for the cash involved has made him quite willing to face death if need be. “I didn’t care,” he says. “I had a lot of things to take care of in Nigeria and the money would come in really handy. So I agreed. A date was set and we met again with the middle-man and the South African (who collected some commission from the middle man).”
Eghosa says he was taken to a hospital-like place which could just be an improvised facility that will enable the operation to take out his kidney go on successfully. But reality began to dawn upon him when after the operation, as he says, “I wasn’t really looked after during recovery time. Some weeks later and my stitches were still painful. The worst aspect of it all was when I sent half of the money home, an uncle of mine who was to collect it and take to my mother absconded with the cash. He still hasn’t been heard from. The remaining is still with me.”
That was four months ago. Now, he says, “I fall very sick every now and then, but I hear it might not be connected to my operation. I’m currently doing jobs like crazy so I’ll be able to go back home.”
Eghosa is one of many Nigerians who are giving out their kidneys to those in desperate need, though not for humanitarian reasons but for cash, fuelling business in the sale of human parts. Like the popular 419 which Nigerians have exported abroad and which foreigners have come to use as a brand to unfairly profile Nigerians, the sale of kidneys by desperate Nigerians is becoming another national export and a brand that threatens to further entrench the country’s image as full of money-seeking citizens with no scruples.
Now, mostly in locations in Malaysia and India, Nigerians in droves, according to the estimate made by a source familiar with the trade, line up to be tested in the hope that their kidneys would be deemed good enough to be donated to a sick person. The two Asian countries that have become favoured destinations of Nigerians have also become favoured places of treatment for Europeans and Americans for diseases related to the kidney.
The trade involving Nigerians is old. Dr. Amaechi Nwaokolo a former intelligence officer who has worked on the desk of the Nigerian/Indian bilateral trade and made several visits to India says it has been on since the 90’s and intelligence sources have known that Nigerians sometimes line up to be tested so they can sell their kidneys. “But this does not mean that the government should start wasting money to form an agency like NAPTIP to check the trend in the sale of human organs, because it will not work. The underlining problem, especially among desperate Nigerian youths is poverty and lack of employment. If this problem is not fixed, it can only continue to get worse.”
A common thread in the tale of sources who agreed to provide information for this story is they had reached the end of their tether and they needed money urgently to salvage not only their own lives, but that of their loved ones.
Mike, also from Edo, sold his kidney in Malaysia and returned back to the country recently. Like Eghosa, he says he was paid $10, 000.00 for his kidney. He says he was left with no choice because it was either he sells one of his kidneys or sits down to watch two of his younger sisters who just graduated from a sewing school become prostitutes because they have no money to set themselves up. He now feels a sense of justification for his action even though he now worries that he is still young and at any time in the future his remaining kidney might not be able to serve him if he falls sick.
Mike says there were a lot of people in the queue in Malaysia, most of them Nigerians, who have gone to sell their kidneys. Like him, those who took the risk needed money desperately to start something that will turn their lives around. Back in the country, he now thinks of a suitable business that will keep him out of the reach of poverty forever.
Nevertheless, he stands the risk of losing forever the boundless energy which is nature’s gift to a youth like him. Dr Ayodele K.A Kehinde, a London-trained nephrologist and CEO of HealthPro Hospital in Lagos and Abuja says, “While it is very much possible for such individuals to live a normal and active life, such lifestyle is sometimes demanding in many respect.” He says poor dietary and lifestyle habits can overwork a single kidney, causing diminished kidney function, leading to failure. So to live with a single kidney, one needs resources.
Kehinde says of kidney donation and sale: “It is not entirely new. The fact is available ones donated are not usually enough. Even the developed nations do it. It is also happening in some countries like India, Bangladesh, Iran and others. Personally, I don’t really support such trade in organs. These organs are priceless possessions given to you by God, for free. So, why sell? It is better donated for free. However, in some places such trades do pay off, so there are different angles to view it from. For example, the Iranian system and the black market demonstrate one important fact: The organ shortage can be solved by paying living donors.”
Dr. Kehinde also told Weekly Trust that only Iran has been able to eliminate the shortage of transplant organs. “That country has a very good, working legal payment system for organ donation.”
While such donations by individuals might be waved away as a personal decision, a larger worry looms in the air which is more sinister. Dr. Nwaokolo recalls the infamous saga of the 90’s involving alleged mad man Clifford Orji who roams Lagos streets but in whose haunt were found various human parts by security agencies. “Even though he is said to be mad,” says Dr. Nwaokolo, “there were strong suspicion in security circles that he could be a front man for people who deal in the illicit sale of human organs.”
While that saga is now past, a regular occurrence in Nigerian streets is that of dead bodies deposited on the streets with eyes or some vital organs of the victims plucked out. Nigerians have come to identify such as the handiwork of ritualists.But Dr. Nwaokolo warns against reaching such hasty conclusion, “Because we could inadvertently be creating a cover that will take our attention away from human organ thieves and their cohorts.” Will this trade diminish and die out or will it add to Nigeria’s list of abhorrent exports?