The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate alleged illicit trade on human organs between Nigeria and China.
The resolution was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Rimamnde Kwewum (PDP-Taraba) and co-sponsored by Rep. Olajide Olatubosun (APC-Oyo), at plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion earlier, Kwewum said that about two weeks ago, Chinese authorities seized a cargo ship that sailed from Nigeria with 7,200 refrigerated male organs’.
According to him, they were found in 36 boxes labelled as plantain on the ship that harboured at the Shanghai port called Red Market.
He said the Chinese General Administration of Customs had alerted that an increasingly large number of armed groups in Africa used organs that were harvested in unsanitary conditions to finance their nefarious activities.
He equally added that The media was awash a few years ago with horrifying stories of the harvest of organs of Nigerians and other Africans stranded in Libya for sale in Europe, the Middle East, America and China.
The lawmaker admitted that the increasing cases of missing persons, ritual killings and trafficking of persons out of the country may be linked to the Red Market which can be attributed to the trafficking of young men and women who end up being victims of organ harvesting.
He also added that the increased banditry, kidnappings and spiralling violence in several parts of the country today make those parts of the country vulnerable and provide safe havens and ready supply channels for illicit activities.
Kwewum said that the harvest of organs could only be done by medical surgeons with the aid of rogue public officials and that perpetrators of the illicit trade generated between US$ 600 million to US$ 1.2 billion profit annually. In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the house, Rep. Ahmed Wase, mandated the committees to report back within 10 weeks for further legislative action
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