Not a week passes these days with-out one hearing another disturbing and really discomfiting story about the present Generation Z, the Internet generation. The story of two teenage girls, aged 17 and 19, trended recently. The 17-year-old happened to be the daughter of a Pentecostal Bishop in Lagos, while the 19-year old, according to reports, worked as the secretary to the bishop. Both teenagers reside in the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos metropolis.

Why did their issue trend on social media? The two adolescents went on a make-quick-money-ride that put their lives in grave danger. The young ladies sold their eggs at a hospital in Abeokuta, Ogun State and each of them was paid N100,000, but the outcome of the illicit transaction was not pleasant in the least.

Unfortunately for them, the eggs were harvested in a medically crude manner that caused life-threatening damages to their liver and other vital organs. In the process they lost their ovaries.

Reports had it that the teenagers connived with an adult female member of the church, Mrs. A, who obviously trafficked them to the hospital.

The bubble burst when the daughter of the bishop started vomiting and was rushed to a hospital. Upon examination, it was discovered that her anus and genital area had been damaged. It was at this point that the girl spilled the beans on what transpired, after she regained consciousness. She confessed that it was Mrs A, who took them to the hospital in Ogun State.

She further disclosed that Mrs.
A convinced them to do the illegal act and warned them to conceal it. She even threatened to kill them if they divulged what transpired. When questioned on why she convinced the young ladies to embark on such gambit, Mrs A said: “The Bishop was not paying them enough money.”

With the girls in critical condition, they were taken to another hospital in Surulere, where specific medical diagnostic investigations were done, resulting in very disturbing revelations, to the effect that the liver, uterus, bladder, kidney, spleen and gall bladder of the girls were damaged in the process of harvest- ing 46 eggs from their ovaries at the hospital in Abeokuta. However, Mrs. A said the two girls volunteered to donate their eggs to the hospital, after listening to her phone conversation with a doctor. In return, they were compensated with N100,000 each. She added the secretary to the bishop gave her N20,000 for introducing them to the doctor.

In any case, the tale developed a twist when the Lagos State Police spokesperson, David Hundeyin,
said the matter was not a case of organ harvesting but a professionally processed operation, where the girls who claimed they were above 18 years signed all the necessary documents. The doctor told them that one of the side effects of the procedure was that they would feel pains for two days. They accepted and donated their eggs. Hundeyin added that their father sought for N200 million, stressing that his daughter never told him about what Mrs. A made her go through at the hospital.

It should be of great concern that such young girls were allowed by the hospital to sign very important documents regarding a major decision like donation of eggs or body organs without the knowledge and consent of the parents. It is not out of place to imagine that the girls might have been coerced or influenced to sign papers without knowing the implications of their decision.

What jumped at me from the girls’ unfortunate tale is that the get-rich-quick syndrome in the society has become imprinted on the minds of our youths. It is blood-curdling that two teenage girls could boldly subject themselves to such a horrendous, life-threatening operation in the quest for money. As they signed
the consent forms, they did not consider the fact that they might die in the process of the surgery or have lifetime damage. Both did not think of the shame of being discovered to have sold their ovaries for the paltry sum N100,000. They did not consider what the future would hold for them in the aftermath of their decision. I know they would have spent the money paid to them, but the regret would linger all their lives. They never considered their parents and families. They never considered what the congregation would tell the Pentecostal bishop, whose daughter was involved in such a scandalous and shameful sale of her eggs.

They held such serious discussions in their minds without opening up to their parents until the effect of the evil dawned on them. This they did despite all the moral, biblical and self-instructions they heard in the church.

Related News

At a time when their minds should have been pre-occupied with how to excel academically and live a purposeful life, they focused on making illicit money from selling their eggs – a clear case of gullibility.

The case of these two teenagers is just a tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of other ones are thinking about how to get rich fast. It has become the order of the day. I urge most parents to pick up their teenage children’s Android phones to see how many that are not locked. It will be probably 10-20 per cent of them all. It is a sign of bad things to come if it is not nipped in the bud. It is also not a time for parents to play the blame game. Rather, the situation calls for both parents to chase out the demon and shut the door.

In a research study, Stanford University scholar, Roberta Katz, found that Gen Z children, a generation that has never known a world without the internet, value diversity and finding their own unique identities. Whereas their parents were raised at a time when there was no internet and therefore know the differences between their time of growing up and the present time, they are able to recognize the dangers of the internet age.

The Gen Z is a generation of internet wizards, who are inquisitive and wealth conscious.

These young people try to run faster than their shadows, parents and guardians in many fields. Their primary goal is to get rich fast without any real hard work. Having patience is not one of their virtues, and that is why they are simply unwilling to go through the normal progression of life. They just want to wake
up and pick millions on the street and live ostentatious lifestyles like fraudsters. Some know and can rattle of the networth of all top footballers, musicians, politicians and swindlers, yet most of them are the laziest human beings you can imagine. They have no time for studies and would easily ask a nauseating question, ‘Who education help?’

The internet by its nature makes it easy to perpetrate evil and commit heinous crimes. The social media has proved that if anyone wants to have a very large number of followers on various platforms, the person only needs to post seductive photographs and sex-related pictures, videos and commentary related to sex. The other way is to engage in publishing false political propaganda. Within minutes, there would be hundreds of comments, shares and thousands of likes. Conversely, if you post stuff on morals, political education, business and national development, most people will just “jump and pass.”

Nowadays it has become so frustrating to live and promote a morally upright life, given that poor conduct is fast deepening in the society and almost becoming tolerable to some people. Gen Z children just love pornography, cybercrime, nudity at its best, extreme-wayward lifestyle, laziness and no respect for time.

I shed tears when I see arrested armed robbers paraded on television or their pictures published on the pages of newspapers. You do not need a soothsayer to tell their ages. What brings home the depraved mindset of Gen Z youngsters is the story of Mrs. Nkechinyere Catherine Nnaama of Umuonaga village in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra State, who heard the voice of her 16-year-old daughter Ifunanya Favour Nnaama, who was about to be raped. She rushed to rescue her. The young rapist killed both mother and daughter on the same spot and ran away.

The frustration which Gen Z children put their parents through gets to a point where such parents throw in the towel and turn their backs on such prodigal children. In a viral TikTok video, a good, elderly father who had apparently been pleading with the son to turn a new leaf, washed his hands off him after police arrested the young man. While in custody and obviously being tortured, he sent a message to the father from the police station through an acquaintance. The beleaguered father simply sent back word, appealing to the police to detain him in their custody and promised to visit him whenever he was able to get money to buy his popular drug (mkpuru mmiri) and bring for him.

Dear teenagers, you might think it is your time, but know that such erroneous belief is the devil’s dangerous trick to drag you down the road to destruction. For the two teenage girls who sold their eggs and had their ovaries permanently damaged, it means that all hopes of having children in future are now foreclosed.

Bear in mind that some of your peers are on the right track and doing well, pursuing worthy life purposes. The day of reckoning will come. When that happens, you will look back and compare your life to that of your peers and be filled with regret. The hand of the clock cannot be turned back. Beware of what you do today, because you will reap what you sow.