THE MERCHANTS OF HUMAN ORGANS

All stakeholders must do more to contain the scourge

It is unfortunate that a most heinous dimension to human trafficking is becoming rampant in our country given recent developments. Currently trending on social media is the story of a young Nigerian, Samuel Ezekiel, who alleged that his friend, Emmanuel Odeh, deceived him into undergoing kidney removal at Wellington Hospital, Life Camp, Abuja. He made the allegations while speaking to journalists during the parade of suspects linked to an alleged organ-harvesting syndicate operating within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa State. Several suspects, including two medical doctors and alleged recruiters, have been arrested by the police for their membership of this network that targets vulnerable young people and facilitates illegal kidney removal through forged documents and false representations.

    Harvesting human organs has become a very lucrative enterprise. It is therefore no surprise that some Nigerian traffickers are now entrenched in it.  But we expect the authorities to be ahead of these criminals. With so many people in need of kidney, liver, and heart transplants, records reveal that these organs are in high demand, especially in developed countries. Out of desperation, many Nigerians now sell their vital organs and, in the process, endanger their lives. The health authorities and critical stakeholders should be worried that some of our medical personnel are being incriminated in this affront against humanity.  

And given the level of economic deprivation in the country, it is also no surprise that there are many willing customers. There is therefore a need for collaborative efforts by the relevant local agencies, state government, and the international partners to tackle this menace.  

 There is also another dimension to the problem. Some unscrupulous Nigerians now recruit young boys and girls from rural communities with the promise of securing them good jobs in the cities when the real intention is to harvest their organs for sale. There have also been stories of how some Nigerian women are usually administered drugs that cause ovarian hyper stimulation to extract their eggs afterwards. Reports abound of how female undergraduates of some Nigerian universities sell their eggs to willing buyers. A demonstration of political will to diligently prosecute offenders would serve as deterrent to those engaged in the nefarious trade, irrespective of their social status. That has been demonstrated in many countries where prominent people have been convicted for such crimes.  

 The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has for years been raising the alarm over the increase in organ harvesting. The sheer magnitude and sophistication of this human merchandising indicate that for any meaningful breakthrough in the efforts to arrest it, collaborative efforts are essential. Critical stakeholders can no longer continue to watch from the sidelines while unscrupulous people classify fellow human beings as commodities and benefit from their ignorance, desperation and, sometimes, greed.  

   All said, trafficking in human person and trafficking in human organs in Nigeria cannot be combated without the effective reform of the country’s criminal justice system. That explains why it is important for NAPTIP to partner with other organisations in tackling this threat. NAPTIP officials have always cited corruption and slow judicial process as the main obstacles in bringing human trafficking offenders to justice. But beyond mere lamentation, all the critical stakeholders must pull resources together to effectively tackle the human trafficking scourge and its allied crime of organ trafficking.