It is the nature of Westerners to doubt just how quickly a place like Africa can become a savage nightmare. After all, even the worst calamities in Europe have not set off an end-of-times zombie apocalypse. Two world wars in which tens of millions were killed and whole cities demolished did not tip the Continent into barbarism.

It’s easy to think that from the comfort of a high smart fraction society. In societies with tiny smart fractions and enormous numbers of violent stupid people, things can turn quickly.

A Nigerian restaurant has reportedly been shut down for cooking human flesh and serving it to customers.

The police were tipped off by locals who suspected something horrific was taking place inside the kitchen.

They raided the hotel restaurant to discover human heads which were still dripping with blood in plastic bags.

A local priest who ate at the restaurant – in the south-eastern province of Anambra – was alarmed at the price of meals there, let alone where the meat came from,BBC Swahili reported.

He was presented with a bill of 700 Naira – around £2.20 – when the daily wage for tens of millions of Nigerians is approximately 60p.

The priest said: ‘The attendant noticed my reaction and told me it was the small piece of meat I had eaten that made the bill scale that high.

‘I did not know I had been served with human meat, and that it was that expensive.’

The police also found a terrifying arsenal of weapons which included grenades when they raided the restaurant. Ten people were arrested in connection to the crimes.

One resident said: ‘I am not surprised at the shocking revelation… Every time I went to the market, I observed strange activities going on in the hotel.

‘People who were never cleanly dressed and who looked a bit strange made their way in and out of the hotel, making me very suspicious of their activities.’

In addition to the occasional trips to the witch doctor to address the effects of cannibalism or bat eating, these are people who are concerned about penis snatching.

Africa is not a place that will muster a well-organized response to their spiraling fertility rate and growing food shortage.