The politics of COVID-19: analysis of government strategies and public perception in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the politics of the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria with a particular focus on government strategic responses and measures that curtailed the spread of the virus and the citizen's perception of the implementation of these strategies across the Nations. The federal government adopted measures to curtail the spread of the disease through the establishment of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Multi-sectored Pandemic Response Plan. The measures include economic and social welfare interventions, and healthcare strategies such as the closure of schools, and borders, the use of face masks, social distancing, lockdowns, and restrictions of travel, testing and contact tracing. The study adopted the historical method of data collection to elicit information and relevant data for the study. It was found that the efforts of the government to slow down and mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 were greatly hindered by public negative reactions. The study observed from the findings that corruption and stiff opposition from the opposition Party against the ruling party posed severe challenges to the effective implementation of the strategies and measures put in place by the government at the Centre. On the strength of these findings, the author recommended that in future, national challenges must be viewed and tackled evenly across all the levels of government and parties not along party lines for the benefit of all. In addition, the federal must leverage public sensitization and effective communication strategy for policy achievement and management of public opinion.