Abstract
Background: The lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal activities including undergraduate medical education in Nigeria, similar to the rest of the world. Nigeria as a low- and middle-income country had peculiar challenges in adjusting to the new norm. This study aimed to assess Nigerian medical student’s perception of the effect of COVID-19 on their learning.
 Methods: A semi-structured, pre-tested online questionnaire was administered to consenting medical students from thirty-three medical schools in Nigeria. Questions assessed the effect of COVID-19 on study and wellbeing, as well as the perception of interventions from institutions and student organizations to reduce the lockdown consequence on learning. Data was analyzed using (SPSS) version 25.
 Results: A total of 623 students from 33 institutions participated. All private institutions and 25% of public institutions had commenced online lectures/tutorials, 92% of students in private institutions and 21% in public institutions had attended online lectures/tutorials. Of those who did not attend institution-organized classes, 30.5% were opposed to online lectures, the main reasons stated being internet cost/availability and inefficiency. About 65% of the participants were aware of student-organized online tutorials/seminars. Eighty percent did not feel motivated to study and perceived their personal study to be less effective.
 Conclusion: Nigerian medical student’s perception of the effect of COVID-19 on their medical education was largely negative. Private institutions fared better in coping with the challenges of the pandemic. Proper planning will be needed to curb the effect of COVID-19 on students’ health and wellbeing.
Highlights
On the 11th of March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) a pandemic.[1]
Demographics A total of 623 responses were analyzed with a response rate of 94%, from 33 Medical Institutions in Nigeria spanning the six geo-political zones of the country, with the highest response from the South-West at 45.4% and the lowest from the South-East at 7.2%
Impact of COVID-19 on Students' Self-Learning (Table 2) Students were asked about their self-study during the pandemic
Summary
On the 11th of March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) a pandemic.[1]. Many countries resorted to the use of technology to ensure continuity in learning, as online education seemed to be the only logical alternative during this lockdown.[2,3,4,5] Studies have shown that online education holds some merit over traditional methods of learning.[6] with online education, peculiarities in undergraduate medical training such as the need for clinical and laboratory activities, which play a pivotal role in learning, cannot be carried out. Proper planning will be needed to curb the effect of COVID-19 on students’ health and wellbeing
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