By Ibrahim Yakubu:
Frog meat is highly being patronized in northern parts of Nigeria, attracting many youths in Kaduna, North West of the region, to engage in catching frogs and other aquatics animals for sale.
Already, majority of the youths who are called frog grabbers, have abandoned the petty businesses they were into, to embrace catching frogs for sales due to its high demand for consumption and other traditional purposes.
Felix peter who is one of the youth leaders at Unguwan Gwari, Kaduna, told this Correspondent that he had been going to the River and ponds, with the sole purpose of catching frogs and other aquatics for the past 3 years.
Felix stated that he delved into the business which was now flourishing due to lack of job saying the frog meat was being patronized all over the 19 northern states and Abuja, the Federal capital .
“It was difficult for me to start the business from the beginning, but now, lam very good in the business, because every day I go to the pond and grab some frogs which I used to bring home and preserve them for sale
“After catching them from various places, we dissect and roast them, and then we package them inside cartoons and we put some in bags for sales to our marketers that usually come from various states.
“I was a mechanic before I abandoned the business and joined this one.
“Our buyers told us that frog meat is delicious and that is why they like eating it always in the soup
“We sell each frog at one hundred Naira, but 3 for Two hundred naira”.
Felix said it was through the business he was maintaining the family and paying the children’s school fees.
“I make about 5,000 naira daily and with that Iam paying my children school fees and take care of all my needs through catching frogs and sales.
Abubakar Shelang is another youth who is into frog grabbing business in Kaduna.
He said, he was into other business but he had to abandon it and embraced this simply because the frog market was moving and making him get more money than the former business.
“I was a bricklayer and I repaired bread mixing machine, but the business was not moving, that was why I left it and joined this one.
Abubakar said, they always take roasted frog meat to many towns across the north, because the demand for the meat was high and they were recording sales daily.
“Every day I go for frog catching, I make good money and that takes care of all my needs”
He called on youths to shun idleness, while embracing skills acquisition and other creativity, so as to reduce dependency on white kola job.
Abubakar appealed to government to assist them with modern equipment of catching frogs, so as to overcome challenges they faced when catching big frogs and other aquatics animals in the river.
“There is no job in the country; one has to be creative to survive”
“There are millions of youths that are wasting their time, looking for white-kola job, and advised them to be creative and fight poverty”
Mercy John is one of the frog dealers who buys and transport the meat to other parts of the north.
Mercy said the business has helped her to become what she is today and also attracted many customers from neighbouring countries.
“I have houses and many cars and even acquired a big land in Abuja”
She then called on Government to support the youths with some capital, so as to start establishing frog ponds like they have, fish ponds.
According to her, this will reduce the danger the youths usually went through when going to river to catch frogs
She said people from different parts of Nigeria now purchase reptiles and frogs in large quantities and take home.
“I am calling on women like me to close their eyes and start the business, so as to stop disturbing their husband”
Musa dan Auta a middle age man, is one of the people that buy frogs from the grabbers.
He told journalists that, frog soup is delicious saying that he has been eating frog meat since when he was a boy
