21st August 2025, NewsOrient, Opinion, Column, Health, News
By John Chukwu Anyim

A silent epidemic is sweeping across Nigeria, cutting down its young and vibrant population, while leaders remain complacent and the health system stands unprepared. If we fail to act, we risk burying a generation.

A Growing National Tragedy

Once upon a time, kidney failure was a disease that stalked mostly the elderly. Today, however, hospitals across Nigeria are reporting a disturbing rise in cases among people in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s. Vibrant young Nigerians, university students, graduates, entrepreneurs, even teenagers are increasingly becoming victims of renal failure. This is no longer a medical footnote; it is a social calamity.

Kidney disease rarely shouts in its early stages. By the time most patients feel its weight, swollen legs, nausea and fatigue, it is already late. They end up tethered to dialysis machines or scrambling desperately for funds to seek a transplant. The result? Thousands of young Nigerians die quietly every year, not because the disease is unstoppable, but because our system has made survival almost impossible.

Why Are Young Nigerians at Risk?

The causes are not a mystery. Uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes are at the top. Many Nigerians do not check their blood pressure until a stroke or kidney crisis strikes. Painkiller abuse is another culprit, our young people pop non-prescription drugs like sweets, oblivious of the harm they do to their kidneys. Add to this the craze for skin-bleaching creams laced with toxic chemicals, energy drinks overloaded with caffeine and sugar, heavy alcohol consumption, untreated infections, and environmental pollutants.

Worse still, our culture of “self-medication” has turned Nigeria into a pharmacy without borders. Drugs are sold over the counter without proper regulation. Herbal concoctions of unknown content are marketed as miracle cures. All of these chip away at kidney health until disaster strikes.

The Financial Burden That Kills Faster Than the Disease

For the average Nigerian, kidney failure is a death sentence. Dialysis costs between ₦30,000 and ₦50,000 per session and must be done two or three times weekly. That’s at least ₦300,000 a month for survival, in a country where the minimum wage is ₦30,000. Most patients simply cannot sustain it.

Transplants, the only real hope, are out of reach. With limited local capacity, most Nigerians must travel abroad for surgery, spending ₦10-20 million. Families sell land, exhaust savings, or beg the public, yet even then, many do not make it. This is the tragedy: people are not dying because medicine has no answers, but because poverty has made treatment a luxury.

Meanwhile, the political elite continue to jet off to Europe and Dubai for routine medical check-ups, funded by public money. The hypocrisy is staggering.

If We Fail to Act, the Future is at Risk

Nigeria is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the youth, the supposed strength of the nation are being wiped out by kidney disease, what future do we have? The economy is already weak; brain drain is bleeding us of doctors and talent. To add a kidney epidemic on top of this is to court national collapse.

We must confront this epidemic now with the seriousness it deserves. Prevention is key. Awareness campaigns should saturate schools, churches, mosques, marketplaces, and workplaces. Blood pressure and sugar checks should be as common as buying bread. The government must regulate harmful drugs and clamp down on unverified herbal concoctions.

Equally, investment in healthcare is non-negotiable. Nigeria needs at least one specialized kidney center in every geopolitical zone, subsidized dialysis and transplant programs, and training for nephrologists. Civil society, NGOs, and faith groups must partner in funding, education, and support for patients.

A Call to Conscience

This is no time for silence. Every day wasted is another youth buried. Every shrug of indifference is another family pushed into despair. Leaders who fail to act are complicit in the deaths of young Nigerians.

We must shout it from the rooftops: The time to act is now. Not later. Not tomorrow. Now. Our young people deserve the chance to live, to dream, to build Nigeria. If we fail them, history will not forgive us.

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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