The Impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s Human Development Trajectory

Abstract

Human development has become a significant term since it was introduced in development discourse in the 1990s. It has remained a veritable term in discussing the living standards of any country. But human development is under threat by the novel corona virus. COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, but quickly spread across the world in the first quarter of 2020 causing unprecedented disruptions of varying proportions not seen since the 20th century. Using the constituents of human development, i.e. life expectancy, education and per capital, recognised by the United Nations Development Program, this paper brings to fore the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on human development in Nigeria. This is largely because the human development index of countries in the sub-Saharan Africa is low, consequently, these countries are not able to withstand massive impact of a pandemic. It is hoped that the governments of developing countries such as Nigeria would seize the opportunity the pandemic presents and change strategies by bridging the gap of inequalities, improving the capabilities of its peoples, diminish poverty and increase the enablers that will improve the human development of its people.