Fertility and Food: Addressing Nigeria’s Looming Crisis Before It’s Too Late

While fertility is indeed a divine gift, the rapid expansion of our population without the necessary infrastructural support in agriculture, social, and welfare safety nets is sowing the seeds of a potential crisis. This is not a situation we can afford to ignore. It demands our immediate and urgent attention.

In this instance, religious organizations, men and women, and governments all have considerable and crucial roles to play. Every family should begin to plan for the number of children they can feed. The blame game cannot address this. What would be more sincere and proactive than to prepare to feed ourselves? It is a duty imposed on every one of us to perform. Did you know that in the 18th Century, France faced a similar situation with a population explosion that surpassed the available food supply? (Https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/adams-french-revolution/)

France’s history serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of a population explosion without a corresponding increase in food supply. The parallels to our current situation are clear. Are we not on the verge of a similar crisis today? We must learn from history, not just to understand it, but to avoid repeating it.

Our food crisis might not have been caused by any natural disaster like France’s but by self-implosion because we refused to use the windfall from oil to boost our agricultural base. More often than not, we embark on policy somersaults, which today would see us ban the importation of imported food items, and by the day we open the floodgates and import all manners of foods, we can grow in the country. This has become almost our way of life.

The severe insecurity we are experiencing in Nigeria, which now prevents people from going to the farm, was stoked by selfish political leaders. Besides, our preferences for imported foods, reliance on crude oil, poor border controls, leadership, and followers’ ineptitude with a massive sense of entitlement have not helped matters. The good thing is that all these can be reversed quickly. But are we ready?

Grace and peace!!!