Socio-economic implications of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria

Sofiri Joab-Peterside

doi:10.4314/gjss.v20i1.2

Abstract

After half of a century as a major oil producer, the Nigerian economy is yet to diversify; thus, remains dominated by primary activities. Whereas oil and gas activities directly employ a negligible number of Nigerians, the industry impacts on the overall economy of the country. However, with large resource windfalls, limited technical capacity, and weak check and balances, the scope for inefficiency, corruption, and elite capture of Nigeria‘s oil-driven economy is substantial. Consequently, the arrival of COVID-19 further exposed the fragility of the economy. As a theoretical paper, the researcher relied on data from secondary sources which yielded quantitative and qualitative information. The secondary data were derived mainly from journals, books and empirical case studies on the impact of pandemics on global production of petroleum, the Nigerian economy, and the overall social sector. News media analysis, government bulletins, and relevant data from civil society organizations, State Security Forces, and Corporate organizations on the debilitating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic were also reviewed. The paper revealed that the socio-economic implications of the pandemic derived from fall in global oil price, policy interventions by the government such as bans on certain types of activities, closure of borders, state lockdowns, school closure and social distancing policies, all of which resulted in disruptions felt in all the sectors of the economy and society. Thus, it is suggested here that efforts must be made to address poverty just as there is an urgent need to improve on the healthcare sector. Unemployment should be tackled positively while government should place greater emphasis on technology and other modern methods of imparting knowledge.

Highlights

The Oil and Gas industry is the most important sector of Nigeria‘s economy accounting for over 90% of the country‘s export earnings and 80% of revenues accruing to the federation account
The impacts of the pandemic on the country derived from actions or policy interventions by the government (Federal and State) such as bans on certain types of activities especially, bans on religious gathering, marriages and other social events, closure of borders, state lockdowns or social distancing discourage economic gathering; closure of firms and institutions including schools were measures taken proactively to avoid infections
Business closures resulted in the loss of wages for workers in many cases, especially in the informal sector of the economy where there is the absence of paid leave

Summary

Introduction

The Oil and Gas industry is the most important sector of Nigeria‘s economy accounting for over 90% of the country‘s export earnings and 80% of revenues accruing to the federation account. In contrast to other sectors, the oil and gas sectors have grown rapidly to become the largest single sector of the economy. There is a strong correlation between crude oil out-put/export and Federal Government revenue. The link was such that during the golden oil era of mid-1970, as high as 90 per cent of Federal recurrent revenue came from oil-based taxes. Even though in recent time there is a tendency for this degree of dependence on oil-based revenues to decline, the level of dependence on oil-based revenues is still relatively high because State and Local Government revenues are heavily dependent on Federal revenues which are themselves heavily dependent on oil-based taxes

Methods

Findings

Conclusion