The House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill seeking to establish a comprehensive legal framework for deceased organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Nigeria.
The proposed legislation aims to protect donors, recipients and their families, ensure equitable access to transplantation, and safeguard the integrity of the country’s transplantation system.
Titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Establish a National Deceased Organ and Tissue Donation Program for the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, the bill also seeks to establish a national regulatory authority, provide guidelines for determining death for donation purposes and prohibit organ trafficking, transplant tourism and the commercialisation of human organs and tissues.
The bill is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, alongside six other lawmakers.
Leading the debate on its general principles, one of the co-sponsors, Dr Patrick Umoh, said organ and tissue donation offered one of medicine’s most significant opportunities, as the end of one person’s life could provide another with a chance to live.
He, however, stressed that the process carried serious legal, ethical and medical responsibilities, requiring a clear and coordinated framework to regulate consent, death determination, organ recovery, allocation, transplantation, tissue banking, safety and oversight.
According to him, the absence of such a framework could expose vulnerable people to exploitation and undermine public confidence in organ donation.
Umoh said the proposed legislation would address these concerns by establishing appropriate regulatory structures, promoting equitable access to transplantation, strengthening patient safety and expressly prohibiting the commercialisation and trafficking of human organs and tissues.
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He explained that recovered organs would be allocated through a national organ allocation and matching system, using a national waiting list to ensure fairness and transparency.
The lawmaker added that allocation would not be based on wealth, political influence or other non-medical considerations, stressing that inability to pay alone would not be grounds for removing a person from the waiting list.
Umoh disclosed that the bill contained 172 clauses divided into 16 parts and three schedules, covering the entire deceased-donation process, from donor identification to transplantation.
He said the legislation would establish the National Deceased Donation and Transplantation Authority as the principal regulator and coordinator, with its headquarters in Abuja and plans for zonal structures across the country.
On consent, he explained that donation would be voluntary and require lawful authorisation, ruling out presumed consent or an opt-out system.
Adults with legal capacity would be allowed to authorise donation, with valid first-person authorisation remaining effective even where family members object.
The bill also provides that a valid refusal to donate must be respected and that the possibility of organ donation must not influence the determination of death.
Death certification would remain independent of transplantation, with independent confirmation requirements.
Furthermore, the proposed law provides for accreditation and licensing, donor audits, biological safety monitoring, adverse-event reporting, traceability and safety alerts.
It also prohibits organ trafficking, transplant tourism, brokerage and commercial dealings in human organs and tissues, with provisions for enforcement.
Under the proposed framework, donor families would receive relevant information, counselling and appropriate bereavement, psychological and requested spiritual or religious support.
The authority would also be required to publish annual reports and national performance indicators while protecting personal data and confidentiality.
The bill was subsequently voted on and passed for second reading before being referred to the relevant committee for further legislative consideration.
