Note: This article was first published on LinkedIn, in Sept 2021.

With the worsened food inflation, virtually all protein sources are now costly and not readily accessible.

We do not see the full implication of this. It’s a scary one. And the end result might just be a useful one to some people, suggesting the inflation (with some drivers influenceable) could be intentionally driven, but eventually is bad for everyone.

When I wrote an article about the opportunities in the fish industry Where will you be? I touted fish as a high-quality protein source, unusually affordable, readily accessible, that can help meet the nation’s rapidly growing protein needs, demands.

It made every sense to explore alternative sources since milk became expensive with a technical ban on milk importation and with insecurity, herders-farmers conflict, beef saw a sharp price increase too. Egg and chicken were also affected.

But while I wrote that article, I had worried if fish would not follow the same route with economic effects spilling from those events.

In the article I emphasized catfish as a possible alternative. It’s easy to raise in captivity. The fish species grow very fast and it gives many offspring.

People were increasingly rearing it for these reasons. A good development for a fast-growing population with increasing protein needs and demands.

Sadly, the same fate would meet it. Insecurity, Naira losing value, and inflation drove the price of catfish feed up, which reflected on the retail end. A kg of (1kg size & above) live catfish went from ₦750 to about ₦1,200.

A 60% increase in less than a year. Farmers are now leaving the sector in numbers.

This is that people are being forced to limit, and in extreme cases skip, protein in/from their diets and for their households when all available protein sources have become expensive.

But this implication won’t just be hunger or stunted growth for many. It’s going to be raging chaos, a dysfunctional society, and sabotage on the future of the nation.

While more people will surely join the over 26 million undernourished Nigerians, there’s a scarier consequence.

It’s no news that the nation’s populace is comprised mostly of young people (about 70%). Knowing the break down of this demographic is important.

The age groups 0-14yrs and 15-24yrs form 41.7% and 20.2% respectively (that is, 61.9% in total) of the above 70%.

While these two age categories require protein, it’s critical for the 0-14yrs age bracket which happens to form (about 60 million) the bulk of the young population. Protein is required for them (and for the latter age range) for both proper mental and physical development.

The true implication of all this then is, should these depressing trends continue, we will be raising and should be expecting in 4 or more/lesser years to come, a teeming population of young Nigerians that are mentally and physically stunted and challenged, unable to think upright and for themselves.

It’s important to note -and even makes matters worst -that of the age demographic focused on, 2.5 million of them already battle severe, acute malnutrition, and 41% of the children under the age of 5 are affected by protein-energy malnutrition.

And with the all-around growth and developmental retardation, these youngsters would be useful for politics. When the lower age demographic reaches 18 and are able to vote -and even the other age category, in their challenged state -they are easy to be manipulated, used to score political points, and their mandates stolen with handouts.

We have seen many cases abound in the country where poverty and hunger are wielded as political tools. A carrot-stick approach.

But the end result, as we are seeing in this present time, won’t be any different and could be even worse -a raging mass of young people having nothing to lose and think of, erupting violence and all manners of chaos with no heed to whom turned them so, if not they even consume them.

These young people won’t be able to carry on the next generation just as those above 18yrs who form the remaining part of the young population have been subjugated mentally and physically to be capable of.

At the end of it all, the most painful part will be that the driver of it all is man-made; we made it ourselves. We could talk of covid-19 and climate change effects on the agri-food system, the economy, and in exacerbating insecurity.

But we can’t excuse our ineffective response to them. And the mismanagement of the economy, the insecurity left to fester, misdirected policies, corruption, terrible politics are more a cause and driver.