Reps back bill to regulate organ donation, ban organ trafficking

The House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill that would set up Nigeria's first full legal framework for taking organs and tissues from dead donors and giving them to patients who need them.

The bill, considered at plenary on Wednesday, is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and six other lawmakers. It was voted through and sent to the relevant committee for more work before it returns to the floor.

For ordinary Nigerians, the bill matters most for what it says about money. Organs would be shared through a national allocation and matching system and a national waiting list. According to its sponsors, a patient's wealth, political connections or social standing would not decide who gets an organ, and being unable to pay would not by itself remove someone from the list.

What the bill proposes

Leading the debate, co-sponsor Patrick Umoh said organ donation offers the chance for one person's death to save or improve another person's life. He argued that without clear rules, vulnerable people could be exploited and public trust in donation could collapse.

The bill has 172 clauses in 16 parts and three schedules. It would create a National Deceased Donation and Transplantation Authority, based in Abuja with zonal offices, to regulate and coordinate the process from identifying a donor to the transplant itself.

Donation would be voluntary. The bill expressly rejects presumed consent, the system where everyone is treated as a donor unless they opt out. An adult with legal capacity could authorise donation, and that authorisation would stand even if family members object. A valid refusal would also be binding.

The bill states that the prospect of donation must never influence how death is declared, and that death must be confirmed independently of any transplant.

It also provides for licensing and accreditation of hospitals and professionals, donor audits, reporting of adverse events, traceability and safety alerts. Trafficking, transplant tourism, brokerage and commercial dealing in organs would be banned, with enforcement measures.

Families of donors would get information, counselling, bereavement and psychological support, and religious or spiritual support if they ask for it. The authority would publish annual reports and national performance indicators while protecting personal data.

What happens next

The bill now goes to a standing committee, which will examine it in detail before it returns for a third reading. It would then need concurrence from the Senate and the President's signature before becoming law.