Business News
COVID-19: Survey confirms job losses, hardship for Nigerians
Details provided showed that Nigerians working in almost all the sectors were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nigerians are losing their jobs as both individuals and firms face undaunted challenges due to the snowballing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the economy.
According to the maiden report of COVID-19 impact monitoring survey recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on employment and income of Nigerians have been widespread.
Majority already lost their jobs
Out of the 1,950 households surveyed on a nationally representative sample, 42% of the respondents who were working before the outbreak were no longer working the week preceding the interview for reasons related to COVID-19.
Further breakdown showed that the poorest households (from the lowest consumption quintile) reported the highest share of Nigerians who stopped working (45%), while 35% of the wealthiest household also affected.
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Also, a high rate of households reported income loss since mid-March 2020, as 79% of households reported that their total income decreased. Basically, while income from all sources were affected, the rate was highest for income from non-farm family business (85%) compared to household farming, livestock or fishing (73%) and wage employment (58%).
Commerce, Services and Agriculture sectors are the hardest hit
Further details provided showed that Nigerians working in almost all the sectors were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the commerce, services and agriculture sectors were reported to have recorded the highest number of layoffs.
According to the report, 14% of respondents were working in the commerce sector before the outbreak but have since stopped working due to COVID-19. This is equivalent to 60% of all those working in the sector prior to the pandemic.
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In all sectors, respondents that stopped working reported that COVID-19 related economic impacts were the primary cause of their lay-offs.
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Low access to basic needs
In a similar light, it was revealed that a high percentage of households could not afford needs such as staple foods, soap and cleaning supplies and access to treatment.
According to the NBS, between 35-59% of households could not afford to buy staple foods like yam, rice and beans during the 7 days prior to the interview when they needed them. Also, soap and cleaning supplies were the most commonly needed items by the surveyed households, though most households were able to purchase these items.
Meanwhile, 26% of households who needed medical treatment were not able to get them.
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Adopting coping mechanisms
According to the NBS report, many households appear to be turning to coping mechanisms that can have further negative impacts of disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The Bureau stated that Nigerians captured in the survey experienced serious disruptions of economic activities, particularly nonfarm business closure (36%) and farming activities (29%).
While households are facing economic shocks, they are also attempting to adapt and cope with the current realties. Some of the coping mechanisms household are adopting include reducing food consumption (51% of all households) and drawing down their savings (29%).
Coronavirus
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
On the 2nd of March 2021, 479 new confirmed cases and 8 deaths were recorded in Nigeria
The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 156,496 confirmed cases.
On the 2nd of March 2021, 479 new confirmed cases and 8 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
To date, 156,496 cases have been confirmed, 134,551 cases have been discharged and 1,923 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
A total of 1.54 million tests have been carried out as of March 2nd, 2021 compared to 1.49 million tests a day earlier.
COVID-19 Case Updates- 2nd March 2021,
- Total Number of Cases – 156,496
- Total Number Discharged – 135,136
- Total Deaths – 1,923
- Total Tests Carried out – 1,544,008
According to the NCDC, the 479 new cases are reported from 22 states- Lagos (153), Enugu (75), Rivers (50), FCT (40), Kaduna (18), Ebonyi (17), Plateau (17), Edo (17), Borno (16), Oyo (12) Kano (11), Abia (10), Cross River (10), Taraba (9), Nasarawa (7), Bauchi (4), Bayelsa (3), Delta (3), Ekiti (2), Niger (2), Ogun (2) and Akwa Ibom (1).
Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 56,001, followed by Abuja (19,274), Plateau (8,911), Kaduna (8,531), Oyo (6,746), Rivers (6,544), Edo (4,607), Ogun (4,398), Kano (3,764), Ondo (2,983), Kwara (2,931), Delta (2,576), Osun (2,433), Nasarawa (2,234), Enugu (2,078), Gombe (2,051), Katsina (2,030), Ebonyi (1,881), Anambra (1,726), and Abia (1,530).
Akwa Ibom has recorded 1,519 cases, Imo (1,497), Borno (1,292), Bauchi (1,232), Benue (1,188), Niger (917), Taraba (813), Ekiti (804), Bayelsa (772), Sokoto (769), Adamawa (762), Jigawa (496), Kebbi (377), Cross River (334), Yobe (268), Zamfara (219), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.
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Lock Down and Curfew
In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.
The movement restriction, which was extended by another two weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.
On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.
On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State announced the closed down of the Eti-Osa Isolation Centre, with effect from Friday, 31st July 2020. He also mentioned that the Agidingbi Isolation Centre would also be closed and the patients relocated to a large capacity centre.
Due to the increased number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria, the Nigerian government ordered the reopening of Isolation and treatment centres in the country on Thursday, 10th December 2020.
On 26th January 2021, the Federal Government announced the extension of the guidelines of phase 3 of the eased lockdown by one month following the rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the country and the expiration of phase 3 of the eased lockdown.
On 28th February 2021, the federal government confirmed that the first tranche of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.
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Tech News
Spotify podcast listeners set to surpass Apple podcast for the first time in 2021
Spotify’s investments have empowered podcast creators and advertisers through its proprietary hosting, creation, and monetization tools.
Kehi de Bello
November 4, 2020 at 4:22 pm
Bamidele Samuel Adesoji.
More power to your elbow. We are really proud of you.
From the department of Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Nigeria.