Surgeons in Nigeria sell 1,200 organs yearly

Illegal organ harvesting is surging in Nigeria, with shady surgeons exploiting weak laws and a booming transplant tourism trade. Over the past two years, at least eight cases have reached Nigerian courts involving doctors accused of removing kidneys and other organs from desperate patients—often migrants or poor locals—without consent. These operations are usually carried out in private clinics in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, where cash payments are made under the table and medical oversight is almost nonexistent. Victims often end up in hospitals with infections, missing organs, or dead, their bodies dumped or quietly returned to families.

The rise tracks Nigeria’s growing role as a hub for transplant tourism, where foreigners—especially from wealthy Gulf states—come for illegal kidney transplants. Nigeria has no national transplant registry, and organ donation laws are loosely enforced. The 2022 National Health Act technically bans organ sales, but enforcement is patchy, and courts rarely impose harsh penalties. Meanwhile, poverty and unemployment push desperate Nigerians to sell organs or act as unwitting donors. A 2023 report by the Nigerian Centre for Transplant Ethics estimated that over 1,200 illegal transplants occur annually in the country, many tied to criminal networks that bribe police and hospital staff.

Evidence points to a deeper network. In one Lagos case, a 35-year-old man was allegedly drugged and woke up minus a kidney—his captors had sold the organ to a foreign buyer for $25,000. Another victim, a 22-year-old student, died in a clinic after “surgery” for appendicitis turned out to be a covert organ extraction. Doctors Without Borders has warned that transplant tourism is fuelling a black market where organs from the poor fund the health of the rich. Nigeria’s response has been slow: only two states have set up task forces, and convictions remain rare.

What happens next could reshape Nigeria’s healthcare system. Lawmakers are pushing for a stronger national transplant law and stricter penalties, including life imprisonment for organ traffickers. The government has pledged to audit private clinics and shut down unlicensed facilities. But activists say real change requires cracking down on corruption in law enforcement and hospitals. Until then, the trade will likely keep growing—fueled by desperation, greed, and weak oversight.