Nigeria’s economy suffered a great deal from the COVID-19 pandemic and many families also suffer the brunt. Before the pandemic came, many Nigerians were already suffering from poverty and the pandemic only made things worse. There was a complete lockdown and no movement.
As a result, the people could not go to their places of work or business. Therefore, they could not make money and this negatively affected their purchasing power. Even companies could not make any sales or income since their workers were all locked indoors. The states and federal governments too could not make any money for the same reason. So, everyone was negatively affected by COVID-19 in Nigeria.
While it was true that many government agencies and private individuals assisted many households by providing food and other essentials, it is also true that only very few people were able to benefit from the largess. To make things even more interesting, many state governments locked up palliatives that could have helped the people fair better during the pandemic.
As a result, the people were left hungry while those foods remained under lock and key. By the time the people discovered these foods, many of them were already spoilt. This indicated that the insincerity and corruption of the government also played a role in keeping the people in perpetual suffering all through the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and even till now.
Economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic
One major point that came to the fore consequent of the COVID-19 happenings was the fact that Nigerian leadership is not the sincere type, both at the national and state levels. It also shows that Nigeria needs a functioning social security system that permits every Nigerian to attain an adequate living standard. COVID-19 made many Nigerians unemployed. There was also a low volume of the export from Nigeria during the period and this caused Nigeria economy to contract by up to 6.1%
Studies show that 21 million Nigerians, which make up about 27% of the labour force, are unemployed. Looking around, one can rarely see any sign of things getting better in Nigeria. This means that Nigeria is on the verge of its worst recession ever to be recorded in the past 40 years.
Not only Nigeria
The economic downturn experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is not only affecting Nigeria. It is more or less a global thing. Even the United States is not left behind. The countries that recorded the highest number of deaths are the most hit by the economic issues, with many of them still finding it difficult to break even. The financial market had been exceptionally affected also.
The World Health Organization (WHO), as of March 11, 2020, declared that up to 213 countries across the globe had been affected by the pandemic and that 207,973 deaths were recorded out of the 3 million cases reported. In China, for example, a decline of 54% in the economy was recorded. There was also a loss in revenue generated by airlines to the tune of $314 billion. Restaurants and bars are not left behind too.
While many of the advanced countries have been able to manage the outcomes successfully, the same could not be said about Nigeria as the country is still grappling with economic uncertainties several months after.
Some external factors
Some external factors are also responsible for the crippled economy being experienced in Nigeria today post-COVID-19. Let it be known that Nigeria’s economic woe began before the COVID-19 pandemic came to being. For example, there was a rapid drop in the price of crude oil before the pandemic started and government earnings dropped rapidly as a result since crude oil was the only major expert Nigeria boasts of.
In the first 5 months of 2020, the United States government cut down the quantity of oil it imports from Nigeria by up to 11.67 million barrels, thereby rendering the Nigerian government cash crunched. Nigeria even recorded negative growth in the entire 2020.
There was an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan put in place by the government has remained unachievable. The plan was created in 2016 following Nigeria’s first recession under the current president, Muhammadu Buhari. To date, the expected success has eluded the country.
The word bank even insists that Nigeria will still go into recession worse than ever in four decades. The unemployment rate has risen drastically too following the COVID-19 pandemic.
How the health sector faired
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the Nigerian health sector to be unprepared for eventualities. As at the time the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, Nigeria could only boast of just 2 testing centers across the country, with one being in Lagos and another one being in Abuja.
There are even fears that the reported cases were far below the actual incidence since there is no mass testing as it is being done in several other countries even the hospitals could not boast of protective equipment and many of the hospitals did not have ventilators.
Due to the absence of adequate testing kits, it becomes somewhat difficult for healthcare workers to differentiate between an ordinary cough and a cough consequent of COVID-19. Even an ordinary face mask was not easy to find as of the time the pandemic started. Many Nigerians had to make makeshift face masks as the pandemic progressed. As a result of this, the cost of facemasks jumped to the roof conclusively, there was inadequate.
Suffering of the citizens
The federal government of Nigeria ordered that a lockdown should take effect from 30th March 2020. The adverse effect was extensive and still pronounced today. The lockdown compelled many business organizations to lay off their workers. Those who did not toe the line of workers’ retrenchment had to cut salaries.
For example, The Punch Newspaper laid off about 40 of its employees some weeks after the lockdown had been on since the company was not getting adverts like before the lockdown. Hotels too were forced to lock up following the lockdown. Hotel workers, who were the breadwinners of their families were exposed to financial crises as a result of this.
