Nurse Alleges She Sold Newborns from Government Hospital — “Male Babies Went for ₦4.5 Million, Females for ₦2.5 Million”

A disturbing claim has surfaced from within one of Nigeria’s government maternity hospitals, painting a nightmarish picture of corruption, betrayal, and human trafficking. A nurse, speaking under the cover of anonymity, has come forward to allege that she and colleagues were complicit in an illicit baby‑selling ring — swapping out abandoned or “d+ad” babies for living newborns, and selling male infants for as much as ₦4.5 million and females for ₦2.5 million.

According to her account, the scheme operated under the guise of legitimate medical care. Vulnerable mothers, often unwed or unmarried, would give birth in the hospital. After delivery, some of these babies would be quietly taken away, replaced by abandoned or “d+ad” (declared dead on arrival) infants, while the living newborns were secretly sold to waiting buyers. These transactions, she claims, were orchestrated by a network of hospital staff, including nurses, midwives, and possibly other insiders.

The nurse described how male babies fetched higher prices due to demand, while females were sold at comparatively lower sums. The implications of her confession are staggering: this was not just a case of adoption gone wrong, but a highly organized, well‑paid trafficking operation embedded within a public health institution.

Such allegations are not without precedent. Nigeria has long grappled with so-called “baby factories” — illegal maternity homes or medical facilities where vulnerable girls and women are held against their will, impregnated, and forced to give birth so that their babies can be sold. In 2020, police rescued ten people — including four pregnant women — from a baby factory in Ogun State, where women said they were traded for profit.

Adding to that, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has raised the alarm about a surge in baby‑selling operations, warning that the trade in infants is becoming more brazen, with reports of complicit medical staff.

Scholars have also documented a deeply troubling trend: in some parts of Nigeria, women say they were coerced into handing over their newborns for amounts varying widely — male infants reportedly sold for up to ₦1 million or more, while female babies fetched less. What makes the nurse’s recent claim especially chilling is the involvement of a government hospital, which would suggest abuse of state structures and public resources.

There are other alarming reports tied to this dark industry: in one case, a facility posing as a maternity clinic in Anambra State was shut down after authorities discovered that under‑aged girls were being kept in captivity, impregnated, and their babies sold. In another, a nurse and a fake lawyer were arrested for running a baby‑selling operation; one baby was reportedly sold for ₦500,000.

Critics say the problem is fueled by institutional failures — slow, expensive, and bureaucratic adoption systems push desperate couples toward illegal channels, while traffickers exploit that gap.

If the nurse’s allegations are true, they expose a breathtaking level of corruption: baby trafficking orchestrated from within the very hospitals meant to protect and care for mothers and newborns. The sums she named — ₦4.5 million for a boy, ₦2.5 million for a girl — suggest that this was not a crime of desperation, but one of calculated profit.

Human rights advocates and law enforcement will need to act swiftly. Investigations must begin, involving hospital administrators, staff, and possibly regulators. DNA tests, audit of hospital records, and recovery of sold children should be priority steps. This is not just a scandal; it’s a crisis of public trust, medical ethics, and human dignity.

The nurse’s confession, if verified, may force a reckoning about how deep the problem goes: whether this is a rogue operation, or part of a systemic abuse of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. But one thing is clear — the stakes are nothing less than human lives, stolen at birth, and sold in the shadows.