Nigerian women are selling their fertility eggs to informal brokers in exchange for wigs, groceries, and cash, a months-long investigation by health journalists has found. The trade is unregulated, largely hidden, and growing in urban centers across the country.
The investigation uncovered networks operating in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt where recruiters target young women, particularly students and low-income earners, with promises of quick money or goods. In several documented cases, women received human hair wigs or food items instead of, or alongside, cash payments for their eggs.
Egg donation through accredited fertility clinics is legal in Nigeria. The problem is that a significant portion of this trade is happening outside clinics entirely, through middlemen who connect donors to recipients without any medical supervision. Women go through hormonal stimulation and surgical egg retrieval without proper screening, counseling, or follow-up care.
A Lagos-based reproductive health physician, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to comment publicly, said the practice carries serious risks. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is one of the most dangerous complications. Without monitoring, it can go undetected until it becomes life-threatening. She said she had treated at least three women in the past year who developed complications after informal egg sales.
Recruiters, often women themselves, are active on WhatsApp groups and social media platforms. They post vague advertisements describing well-paying opportunities for healthy young women between 18 and 30. When candidates respond, they are told the procedure is simple, painless, and confidential. Payment terms vary. Some women receive cash. Others are offered goods, with human hair wigs being a commonly reported item.
One woman who said she donated eggs twice through an informal network told investigators she was paid in a combination of cash and a straight-hair wig she had wanted but could not afford. She said she was given injections by someone who described herself as a nurse, then taken to a private address for the retrieval procedure. She did not see a doctor at any point. Her name is being withheld.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control sets out guidelines for fertility treatments in Nigeria. Egg donation is supposed to occur within licensed assisted reproduction facilities with full medical oversight. The agency’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria has previously raised concerns about quackery in the reproductive health sector. The organization has called on regulators to increase inspections of fertility centers and crack down on unregistered practitioners.
Experts say poverty and economic pressure are the main drivers pushing women into informal egg sales. Repeated economic shocks over the past several years have hit young Nigerians hard. For a woman who cannot afford school fees or basic household needs, the offer of tens of thousands of naira or a desired item in exchange for an egg donation can be difficult to refuse.
The fertility egg trade also raises questions about exploitation and informed consent. Health advocates argue that women entering these arrangements rarely understand the full medical risks. They are not given time to consider the procedure, are not always told what the eggs will be used for, and have no legal recourse if something goes wrong.
A human rights lawyer who has reviewed several of the cases described the arrangements as exploitative by design. She said the absence of written contracts, proper medical records, or independent counseling means the women have no protection. The people profiting from this are counting on the women not knowing their rights, she said.
Health officials at the state level in Lagos acknowledged awareness of reports of unregulated egg donation but said investigations were ongoing. Specific figures on the scale of the practice were not immediately available.
Reproductive rights organizations are now calling on the federal government to launch a formal inquiry, fund public education campaigns, and strengthen enforcement against unregistered fertility brokers. Without action, they warn, more women will be harmed.
