1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
This study evaluates the impacts of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s economy, especially how the government
responded to the pandemic and the impacts of the public health and social measures (PHSMs) on the
national economy, individuals, households and businesses. It examines the economy-wide effect of
the demand and supply shocks of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s economy with particular interest in how the
natural resource / extractive industries sector was impacted and the implications for the medium to
long run development of the sector. Also, it reviews the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
people living in the extractive industries communities and tries to identify ways to reduce the
country’s vulnerabilities to enable the economy to progress towards sustainable development in the
middle to long term. It, therefore, evaluates among others, the current and potential impacts of
COVID-19 on the extractive industries’ sector, noting in particular, revenues, contracts; tax
settlements; investments, Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and macroeconomic aggregates like expenditure
priorities, employment, debt and environmental sustainability. It also reviews the effect of COVID-19
on livelihood issues in host communities of the extractive industries such as income and access to
health care, education, water and sanitation and the gender disaggregated effects of employment in
particular. In addition, it evaluates the effectiveness of fiscal and macroeconomic policies
implemented to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 on the economy and livelihood of the people.
This study is undertaken by Integrated Social Development (ISODEC) with funding from the Ford
Foundation-Nigeria Office. Other countries included in this study are Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and
The Gambia.
Apart from this introduction, the rest of this paper is structured as follows: Part two contains
conceptual issues, area and method of study and method of data collection. Part three examines the
structure of the Nigerian economy showing the importance of natural and extractive industries in
Nigeria’s economy with regards to contribution to jobs, export, revenue and GDP. Part four looks at
government response to COVID-19, effects on the economy and mitigation measures, part five is on
impact of COVID-19 on the extractive industries sector and governance of the sector and in part six
the results of the survey are presented and discussed. Part seven is on efforts of the government to
address the second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria and part eight is for summary, conclusions and
recommendations.
2.0 THEORETICAL CONCERNS AND METHOD OF STUDY
2.1 Conceptual Issues
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the SSR2 virus infection which was first diagnosed in
Wuhan China towards the close of 2019, quickly spread to several countries in west and eastern
Europe ravaging lives and livelihood on its trail. Consequently, the World Health Organization (WHO)
on 30th January declared it a public health issue of serious concern. The first case in Africa arrived in
Egypt on 14th February, and within two months, the disease had spread to every country in Africa,
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mostly entering capital cities through international flights from Europe and spreading from there
through community transmission.COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on 12 March and it
opened a new vista in the economic analysis of public health care and the health status of citizens.
Before the emergence of COVID-19, economic analysis of health care mainly centred on the
opportunity cost of resources employed in the health sector vis a vis consumption, investment and
productivity effects of health care financing and the health status of citizens (Soyibo 2005, Obansa et
al. 2013, Idees and Olaniyi, 2020 etc). However, in the case of COVID 19, its mode of spread, rate of
infection and unprecedented death toll within a short time led governments around the world to
impose drastic mitigation measures which changed the transmission mechanism between the disease
and the economy. These include restricting local and international travels/movements, closing down
of factories, shops and recreation centres all of which culminated in shutting down the global supply
chain. The dynamics of these measures generated internal and external economic shocks that affected
social and economic activities of countries around the world devastating the economies of developing
economies that depend mainly on extractive industries for government revenue, and foreign
exchange. This study, therefore, seeks to fully understand the current and potential impact of the
pandemic on the extractive industries’ sector and the implications for sustainable development in the
5 anglophone countries in West Africa.