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Social workers, especially in the Global North/developed countries such as the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, have been actively involved in implementing social programs to improve the psychosocial, health, and wellbeing of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is not the case in the Global South/developing countries like Nigeria, Ghana, etc. This concept paper aims to describe the current state of Nigerian social workers' role in developing and implementing social programs for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify action plans for further strengthening their involvement. We systematically reviewed the literature to identify Nigerian social workers' role in developing and implementing social programs for older adults during COVID-19. Our review reflected that social workers are rarely involved in developing and implementing social programs; when involved, their involvement is on a consultation basis, which limits their active involvement in multidisciplinary team of COVID-19 prevention and vaccination ad hoc committees in Nigeria.

Background: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a major barrier to vaccine uptake, and the achievement of herd immunity is required to reduce morbidity and mortality and protect the most vulnerable populations. In Nigeria, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been high, and uptake remains very low. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in Nigeria can help support public health efforts to increase vaccine uptake., Aim: This study evaluates Nigerian HCWs' acceptance and intent to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine., Subjects and Methods: Cross-sectional survey among 1,852 HCWs in primary, secondary, and tertiary care settings across Nigeria. Respondents included doctors, nurses, pharmacy workers, and clinical laboratory professionals who have direct clinical contact with patients in various healthcare settings. A 33-item questionnaire was used in the study, with two of the questions focused on the COVID-19 vaccine. The responses to the two questions were analyzed using Chi-square (c2) tests and independent t-tests to determine the acceptance of the vaccine., Results: The majority of respondents were younger than 34 years (n = 1,227; 69.2%) and primarily worked in hospitals (n = 1,278; 72.0%). Among the respondents, 79.2% (n = 1,467) endorsed the COVID-19 vaccine as a critical tool in reducing the impact of the disease, and 76.2% (n = 1,412) will accept and recommend the vaccine to their patients. The younger HCWs were more likely to endorse and recommend the vaccine to their patients., Conclusion: There is a moderately high COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate among HCWs surveyed in our study. The confidence of HCWs in its use and their willingness to recommend it to their patients can provide a potentially useful element in increasing acceptance by the larger population in Nigeria., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice.)

In line with the philosophy of inclusion and various legislative instruments which encourage 'education for all', ODL institutions have made provision for sign language interpreters (SLIs) to facilitate participation for deaf students. Although, some studies have examined issues of virtual learning and the ODL programme; a paucity of studies assessing virtual sign language interpretation (VSLI) in remote educational activities is evident. Therefore, a research study was instituted to probe into perceived enablers and or constraints of providing VSLI during the Covid-19 lockdown in Nigeria. Based on the Job Demand Resources Model, two research questions were raised and answered in this paper. This study adopted the qualitative research design and seven SLIs who had participated in virtual teaching and learning activities during the lockdown were purposively selected to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, and the data collected were coded and analysed thematically through using an iterative process. Government policies and the empathetic nature of SLIs were found to be enablers of VSLI, while four themes, namely epileptic power supply; internet connectivity; lack of institutional support and the comprehensibility of deaf students who attended remote lectures were found to serve as barriers to effective and efficient VSLI. Based on the findings, appropriate recommendations were made.

Background: We aimed to explore socioeconomic inequality, health inequity, and the well-being of transgender people during the COVID-19 crisis in Nigeria., Methods: Between June and December 2021, a cross-sectional survey was conducted collaboratively with community-based organisations in Nigeria. Participants living with or at risk of HIV were recruited voluntarily, online and face-to-face, using a combination of venue-based and snowball sampling. We assessed the association between gender identity (transgender and vulnerable cisgender women), and (i) socioeconomic inequality measured with socioeconomic status, social status, economic vulnerability, macrosocial vulnerability; (ii) health inequity measured with self-assessment of health, recency of HIV test, access to HIV and sexual and reproductive health services, gender-affirming care, financial and non-financial barriers to accessing health services; and (iii) well-being, measured with gender-based violence, mental health, psychoeconomic preferences. We used multivariable logistic regressions and controlled for interactions and confounders., Results: There were 4072 participants; 62% were under 30, and 47% reported living with HIV. One in ten (11.9%; n = 485) was transgender, and 56.5% reported living with HIV. Compared to vulnerable cisgender women, the results showed significantly higher odds (aOR:3.80) of disruption in accessing HIV services in transgender participants; gender-based violence (aOR:2.63); severe (aOR:2.28) symptoms of anxiety and depression. Among the barriers to accessing health and HIV services, transgender had three-time higher odds of reporting additional non-official fees compared to vulnerable cisgender women. The disclosure of their gender identity or sexual orientation was the most important non-financial barrier to accessing health services (aOR:3.16). Transgender participants faced higher housing insecurity (aOR: 1.35) and lower odds of using drugs (aOR:0.48). Importantly, they are more likely to have performed a recent HIV test and less likely to not know their HIV status (aOR:0.38) compared to vulnerable cisgender women., Conclusions: Socioeconomic inequality, health and well-being inequity in transgender people appear to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Interventions are necessary to mitigate socioeconomic challenges, address structural inequality, and ensure equitable access to health services to meet the Sustainable Development Goals for transgender people., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

The rapid transition to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges for teachers, students, and higher education institutions, impacting students' learning and engagement in the learning process. Based on Self-Determination Theory, this paper employs a collective case study research methodology to examine teachers' strategies for supporting students' learning and engagement in virtual learning environments during emergency remote teaching in the pandemic era, with the goal of offering guidelines to assist teachers in fostering student learning and engagement in these virtual settings. The inductive thematic analysis of eight semi-structured interviews with teachers from Spain, Oman, Nigeria and Cambodia revealed some challenges faced by teachers in engaging their students in virtual environments and some teaching and support strategies that teachers adopted to enhance students' engagement in virtual classrooms. The study synthesised a set of strategies for teachers in higher education to support students' engagement and learning in online environments. Teachers' autonomy, structure and involvement support strategies had a behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement on students' learning process. The paper discussed limitations and future research endeavours in online teaching and learning and students' engagement.

The need for governments across the globe to collaborate with religious leaders in the fight against COVID-19 has been emphasized by international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO). However, there has not been much discernible scholarly effort to know what religious leaders think of COVID-19. The present study, therefore, explored the interpretations church leaders have about COVID-19 in Nigeria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen leaders from Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. Using a thematic analytical approach, the study found that only few church leaders interpreted COVID-19 as a medical problem in line with science (33%). The rest interpreted the virus as a tool of conspiracies/political manoeuvrings (27%) and as a spiritual event (39%). The study discussed the implications of the findings for policy and research as well as how to address some of the harmful interpretations., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The 2017 general comment (GC21) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on children in street situations, provides a framework of legal guidance for governments developing policies aimed at protecting street-connected children and sets up the rationale for more awareness raising and public education to counter negative and deficit attitudes towards street-connectedness. Within this framework, the media has a role to play in either challenging conceptualisations of street-connected children as out-of-place within the public and predominantly adult domain described by urban streets, or in reinforcing ideological constructions of citizenship and normalised notions of childhood that result in negative stereotypes of these children. GC21 recommends that interventions targeted at street-connected children should be ethically responsible -- adopting child rights approaches aimed at using accurate data/evidence that upholds the dignity of children, their personal integrity, and their right to life. As such, these approaches should also extend to how organisations engage with and utilise the media to represent street-connected children. Focusing on media representations of street-connected children during the six pandemic-affected months of February to July 2020, this paper provides a review of the content of the sources to provide an insight into the structural barriers that face street-connected children because of how they are positioned in society, during the pandemic and in general, and the extent to which the media reinforces or counters the rescue or removal narratives that can lead to inappropriate intervention responses.

The study aims to understand the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the PRISMA approach to screening the selection of journal articles and review papers according to the research aims and the inclusion criteria. The journal articles and review papers were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel and Google Scholar, Academic. Microsoft, Semantic Scholar, Elsevier, and Emerald Insight databases searched relevant documents using formulated keywords. A statistical technique was applied using the M.S. Excel analysis tool (PivotTable and an independent t-Test) to analyze data and determine the differences between teachers and students. The review revealed the evidence that the majority of the studies were primarily focused on the individual developing countries and results from other developing countries were not considered. In addition, the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate skills and training, inadequate Internet/Infrastructure, lack of supporting resources and lack of online student engagement and feedback. Finally, the independent t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference in challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both teachers and students encounter similar challenges. The systematic review raised concerns that higher learning needs to effectively implement long term strategies and support teachers and students in getting into online teaching and learning.

Education has been one of the worst-hit sectors of the economy since the detection of the first index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria on February 27, 2020. Like many affected countries of the world, the Federal government of Nigeria has taken several necessary precautionary measures to curtail the spread of the disease. This has led to the suspension of all educational activities especially in-class teaching and learning processes. This paper studied the state of education in Nigeria and the effort of government towards continuous education in comparison to the measures put in place by other developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper equally reviewed five different available and popular online learning platforms that can be implemented by the government to provide start-up educational programs that would help to keep students on course by learning remotely from home throughout the period of COVID-19 pandemic. These include Distance Learning, Social media, Virtual Classroom, M-Learning, and Flipped classroom. Implementation of these online forms of education will successfully offer alternatives and ensure continuous education presently and in the future. The recommendations of this study would be useful even for other developing countries that are yet to discover any alternative to the disrupted in-class learning activities so that their students will start to learn from home.

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic caused a sharp change in the educational practice world over as schools and institutions of learning are forced to seek alternatives to teaching styles. Learning centers were shut down to follow the order of social distancing, as a precautionary measure against the infectious virus disease that has rampage the world. This paper studies the professional consequences of the challenges fronting the English language teaching in Nigeria in the period of coronavirus pandemic otherwise known as "COVID-19". It also offers how the needs and goals of the learners can be met in the period of the mandatory homestay. The article collects, collates, and reviews the data that comes up in the Learn at Home Program (LHP) webpage which is created for the purpose of continuing education in the time of "COVID-19". A survey of the participants' responses was also conducted to investigate the efficacy and challenges that they encountered during the online delivery through the use of a variety of media stations on different topics of secondary schools in Nigeria. The paper, after pitching the challenges of this virtual instruction at the time of the pandemic, proffers certain solutions that can boost the efficacy of virtual education generally in Nigeria.

Educational technology is a discipline that has a lot of roles to play in the global education system yet, its services had been neglected over the years in Nigeria. The new global reality that was occasioned by the upsurge of COVID-19 has made educational technology a very consequential discipline with conspicuous roles to play in the face of such a global pandemic. COVID-19 has halted many human activities across the globe. Its effect in the education system has resulted to re-adjustment in the school calendar, prolonged graduation dates, and reduced research output. To combat this, many education systems now adopt the services of educational technology thereby changing the old norm. But for this new norm to be sustainable, this paper argues that the education system must show a pragmatic attitude towards the adoption of such innovation rather than a conservative attitude. Therefore, using the diffusion theory of innovation, this paper argues that necessity called for compulsory adoption of innovation in the Nigerian education system. This new opportunity, however, looks bleak as many educational practitioners lack the required skills and attitude to adopt the innovation. It, therefore, concludes that educational practitioners need in-service training to be part of these changes. The government is suggested to apply a systematic approach in procuring and installing ICT facilities that will enhance the diffusion of this innovation into the school system.

This paper examines the role of librarians in e-learning programs, as a consequence of post-COVID adaptations in Nigerian universities. Through a review of the relevant literature and of current practice in existing e-learning programs in Nigerian universities, a discussion is developed around the significant roles librarians can play. The embedded librarianship model was identified as the best practice to adopt in order to secure a place for librarians and libraries in Nigeria in the face of the current change in teaching approaches in the post COVID-19 environment. Furthermore, the paper describes the perceived challenges librarians and libraries may be confronted with in executing the embedded librarianship model with regard to online teaching and learning. The paper advocates that the identified challenges be addressed for the library to play a role in the evolving post-COVID adaptations in Nigerian universities.

While insights into the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on formal schooling are still patchy, even less is known about the pandemic's impact on nonformal education systems, including institutions of Islamic learning. In this paper, we explore the nexus between pandemic control and the securitization of Qur'anic education in northern Nigeria; that is, the framing of Qur'anic schools, teachers, and students as security threats that necessitate tough responses. Security concerns have long dominated perceptions of Qur'anic schools in this region, which has been plagued by sectarian and interreligious violence. Qur'anic students often have been cast as future hoodlums and easy recruits for radical groups and depicted as vectors of disease, even as epidemiological evidence remains scarce. In this paper, we argue that security framings have proven highly adaptable in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine how perceptions of Qur'anic students as dangerous legitimized the forced clearance of schools and student deportations. Drastic interventions have also bolstered perceptions of COVID-19 as a hoax and a plot by politicians to further their own agendas. Data for this paper come from 14 verbal diaries recorded in Kano, Nigeria, from April to June 2020, nine interviews with Qur'anic teachers and students affected by school clearances, and our analysis of Nigerian newspaper reporting.

The occurrence of corona virus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with its negative consequences on various sectors including education up till now has led to the increase in the necessity to use online learning resources and platforms for teaching and learning especially in higher education institutions (HEIs) in various countries. This research paper's major goal was to investigate the online learning attitude and online learning readiness of undergraduate accounting students in Nigerian public HEIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research participants consisted of 845 male and female undergraduate accounting students purposively selected from six HEIs. Study data was collected quantitatively with two online learning scales addressing students' online learning attitude and online learning readiness respectively. The study data were analysed with relevant statistical tests in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 22) based on 0.05 level of significance criteria. The finding demonstrates significantly positive online learning attitude among the undergraduate accounting students from the studied HEIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding also showed that the undergraduate accounting students' online learning attitude significantly related to their online learning readiness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The male and female undergraduate accounting students did not differ in their online learning attitude and online learning readiness. There were no significant differences in online learning attitude and online learning readiness among the undergraduate accounting students from the studied HEIs based on institution type (university, polytechnic and college of education). Nigerian HEIs and accounting departments should provide efficient online learning access and resources to these students and work towards bridging any existing institutional disparities in the availability and use of online learning facilities and resources.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has caused a shift in how many teaching, learning and research activities are conducted internationally. Lockdowns compelled all education sectors, including higher education (HE), to adopt a variety of online learning practices at short notice. As these changes in practice have implications beyond the pandemic, more needs to be understood about settings across the globe where the move to online may pose particular challenges. This study brings a focus to how lecturers in a college of education in Nigeria responded to the professional demands of lockdowns and developed strategies for managing educational activities that have relevance during and beyond the pandemic itself. Purpose: The aim of the study reported in this paper was to examine lecturers' perceptions of the management of teaching, learning and research activities during a lockdown, drawing out longer term implications. Methods: Data were collected through in-depth, one-to-one interviews with six lecturers from a college of education in Nigeria. Interview data were analysed qualitatively. Findings: Detailed analysis indicated that lecturers' strategies included encouraging students to engage in self-directed learning, as they uploaded learning materials on messaging groups and the college's e-learning platform. However, lecturers felt that the quality of teaching and assessment was compromised by factors including: irregular power supply, poor internet connection, high data costs and some students' limited digital skills. A particular concern was students' lack of interaction on the online platforms, which lecturers perceived to result in a more passive teaching and learning process. Lecturers also experienced difficulties undertaking research activities. A range of strategies and implications for the ongoing management of educational activities was discussed. Conclusions: The study offers insights into how some of the challenges encountered could be addressed to support sustainable online and blended teaching and learning in the longer term, in settings internationally where there are barriers to accessing online teaching and learning. Crucial aspects include strengthening educational technology training for lecturers and students, enhancing e-learning platforms for teaching practical courses, and enabling lecturers to develop beneficial and valuable online resources.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the disruption of education systems and the closure of schools all over the world. To ensure that teaching and learning continued during the pandemic, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Nigeria adopted Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) and moved classes to online and distance education platforms. The expectation is that ERT will be an alternative to face-to-face teaching methods, which were the norm before the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we argue in favour of HEIs continuing to utilize ERT rather than leaving remote teaching by both lecturers and students untapped. We will also provide justifications to support this ongoing use of ERT. We suggest that institutions should embrace a blended learning approach. This involves implementing an ERT contingency plan for potential future crises, integrating ERT as a mandatory component of academic staff professional development, enhancing the skills and readiness of academic and support staff for ERT, and formulating a strategy to address the challenges associated with ERT. We conclude that ERT presents a promising pedagogical approach that has the potential to bring about positive transformations in Nigerian higher education institutions.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, education systems have grappled with the complexity of protecting the wellbeing of learners and educators, along with ensuring learners' continued engagement with learning. This has led to an increasing number of calls to strengthen education-sector resilience to future shocks and stressors, particularly for the most marginalized, in order to maintain momentum toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4. Resilience has been and continues to be a key focal point for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), both across the agency and within its education portfolio. In this paper, we reflect on case study research in five contexts--Colombia, Georgia, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Zambia--during the COVID-19 pandemic and apply it to USAID's resilience framework for education. We identify practices and structures used in each context that were either operationalized or could be leveraged further to absorb, adapt, and ultimately transform these education systems when facing a pandemic and other types of stressors and shocks.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and attempts to limit its spread have resulted in a contraction of the global economy. Here we document the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic among households, adults and children in low-income countries. To do so, we rely on longitudinal household survey data from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda, originating from pre-COVID-19 face-to-face household surveys plus phone surveys implemented during the pandemic. We estimate that 256 million individuals-77% of the population-live in households that have lost income during the pandemic. Attempts to cope with this loss are exacerbated by food insecurity and an inability to access medicine and staple foods. Finally, we find that student-teacher contact has dropped from a pre-COVID-19 rate of 96% to just 17% among households with school-aged children. These findings can inform decisions by governments and international organizations on measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Access to correct information can influence the formation of the right attitude towards mitigating the spread of the COVID-19. Many individuals in Nigeria have taken up non-scientifically approved practices in a bid to protect themselves from the virus. The aim of this study was to assess the source of information, and knowledge of the cause and mode of transmission of the COIVD-19 among local traders in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study of local traders from two densely populated markets in Ibadan was conducted using an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software v. 25 and Microsoft Excel 2016 and were presented in frequency tables and charts. The Chi-square test was used to test the associations. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. Results: A total of 321 traders (27.4% were males and 72.6% were females) were recruited with a Mean±SD age of 39.4±11.8 years. Radio (93.5%) and television (75.7%) were the most commonly used sources of information, 65.8% believed that COVID-19 was a result of divine punishment for sins and the majority (95.3%) reported that COVID-19 was spread through personal contact with infected persons. There was a statistically significant association between knowledge of cause and age (P=0.004), as well as between knowledge of cause and marital status (P=0.001). Additionally, a statistically significant association was observed between knowledge of transmission and level of education (P=0.012). Conclusion: Even though they have access to adequate information, people may not take proper actions to protect themselves and others from contracting the COVID-19. Reinforced health promotion strategies that pay attention to the local contexts and perspectives of community members should be taken across the board. Background: Access to correct information can influence the formation of the right attitude towards mitigating the spread of the COVID-19. Many individuals in Nigeria have taken up non-scientifically approved practices in a bid to protect themselves from the virus. The aim of this study was to assess the source of information, and knowledge of the cause and mode of transmission of the COIVD-19 among local traders in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study of local traders from two densely populated markets in Ibadan was conducted using an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software v. 25 and Microsoft Excel 2016 and were presented in frequency tables and charts. The Chi-square test was used to test the associations. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. Results: A total of 321 traders (27.4% were males and 72.6% were females) were recruited with a Mean±SD age of 39.4±11.8 years. Radio (93.5%) and television (75.7%) were the most commonly used sources of information, 65.8% believed that COVID-19 was a result of divine punishment for sins and the majority (95.3%) reported that COVID-19 was spread through personal contact with infected persons. There was a statistically significant association between knowledge of cause and age (P=0.004), as well as between knowledge of cause and marital status (P=0.001). Additionally, a statistically significant association was observed between knowledge of transmission and level of education (P=0.012). Conclusion: Even though they have access to adequate information, people may not take proper actions to protect themselves and others from contracting the COVID-19. Reinforced health promotion strategies that pay attention to the local contexts and perspectives of community members should be taken across the board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent pandemic disease, COVID-19, brought about a measure that involves every individual staying at home in Nigeria. This had various effects on different activities and habits of an average Nigerian. This study examined the influence of COVID-19 lockdown on reading habit of Nigerians using Lagos State inhabitants as case study. Descriptive survey design was adopted and simple random sampling technique was used. Web-based questionnaire was adopted to collect data for the study owing to the risk paper questionnaire could pose. The Cronbach's Alpha Reliability coefficient is 0.80. Total response collected for the study is 416. It was found that there was significant improvement in the reading habit of Nigerians during the lockdown. It was revealed that most Nigerians used phone to read during the lockdown. It was shown that more than half of the respondents had challenges in reading during the lockdown, which include cost of resources, non-availability of resources, lack of motivation, and heavy usage of social media. It was concluded that COVID-19 lockdown has a positive influence on reading habits of Nigerians. It is recommended that Nigerians should imbibe the reading habit of seeing readership as a pleasurable activity to do just like entertainment. It was further recommended that Nigerians should not reverse on their significantly improved reading hours during post-lockdown.

This paper provides glimpses of transactions in chemistry classrooms in five African countries (Burundi, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Members of the secondary school community in the countries including teachers, students, and school managers were unprepared for the unprecedent demand in shift from a face-to-face to an online delivery system. From a tepid, faltering start in the early days of the lockdown in Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal, and recognizing that the end of the lockdown may not be in sight, some minuscule progress is being made in exploring virtual delivery of the chemistry curriculum. Four major challenges to online delivery of chemistry education emerged. These are a teacher capacity deficit for delivering online education, poor internet service, an erratic power supply, and severe inadequacies in infrastructure for open and distance education. Taken together along with poor teacher motivation induced by low and irregular wages, these challenges are depressants to quality chemistry teaching during the COVID-19 period. We foresee that these challenges will persist. The harsh effect of COVID-19 on the economy of all African countries is a sign that funds will be unavailable to address these challenges in the near future. A glimmer of hope can be the reprioritization of funding resources by African governments to online delivery of education, noting that blended learning will be the new normal in the coming decades.

This paper assesses the relational effects of perceived organizational support (POS), fear of COVID-19 (FOC-19), and work-related stress (WRS) on the safety performance of healthcare staff. The sample for this research was extracted from the University College Hospital (UCH) in the Oyo State of Nigeria. The participants were midwives, doctors, auxiliary services staff, and nurses who functioned in a COVID-19 hospital ward, fever or respiratory ICU, Auxiliary services, or outpatient clinics. This investigation espoused a clinical crosssectional survey involving self-reported surveys. Of the 150 questionnaires distributed, 147 were fit for scrutiny and analyzed with Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 28). This paper established a relationship between POS and safety performance (SP). Besides, it showed a significant positive correlation between FOC-19 and SP. It further noted that workrelated stress negatively relates to safety performance. Moreover, this study showed the significant joint strong influence of POC, FOC-19, and WRS on the safety performance of healthcare workers. Hence, healthcare institutions are encouraged to create adequate support for healthcare workers, particularly during a global health crisis. Government and healthcare institutions should also develop an awareness program on the danger and consequences of getting infected by the virus or infecting other significant others. This will increase the fear of COVID-19 and, consequently, health workers’ safety performance. Besides, it is recommended that the management of healthcare institutions provides a proper work structure and schedule to help reduce workloads, consequently reducing WRS, as lowering it improves healthcare workers’ safety performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The media became a strong driver of either reliable information or misinformation. The trends of issues during the pandemic indicate that media has been targeted by global health authorities, national governments, and health agencies, among other developmental vital stakeholders, in mobilizing the public at all levels to communicate the preventive measures, symptoms, and non-surgical and hygiene practices that would help in stemming the spread of the virus. The paper indicates that knowledge plays a significant role in driving public health practices. Another critical role the media plays in influencing public perception, opinions, attitudes, and behaviors during the peak of the public health emergency. Media also performed the responsibility of being the watchdog of society through consistent follow-ups on contact tracing, daily broadcasts of the infected, recoveries, and fatalities in different countries across the globe, including Nigeria. The paper recommends that the media should be more watchful in the information they disseminate to the public to avoid jeopardizing the primary aim of reducing people's uncertainty. This can be done by controlling information overload by deploying more instruments of gatekeeping to titrate the kinds of information they send through their channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nigeria commenced rollout of vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in March 2021 as part of the national public health response to the pandemic. Findings from appropriately contextualized cost-effectiveness analyses (CEA) as part of a wider process involving health technology assessment (HTA) approaches have been important in informing decision-making in this area. In this paper we outline the processes that were followed to identify COVID-19 vaccine stakeholders involved in the selection, approval, funding, procurement and rollout of vaccines in Nigeria, and describe the process routes we identified to support uptake of HTA-related information for evidence-informed policy in Nigeria., Methods: Our approach to engaging with policy-makers and other stakeholders as part of an HTA of COVID vaccination in Nigeria consisted of three steps, namely: (i) informal discussions with key stakeholders; (ii) stakeholder mapping, analysis and engagement; and (iii) communication and dissemination strategies for the HTA-relevant evidence produced. The analysis of the stakeholder mapping uses the power/interest grid framework., Results: The informal discussion with key stakeholders generated six initial policy questions. Further discussions with policy-makers yielded three suitable policy questions for analysis: which COVID-19 vaccines should be bought; what is the optimal mode of delivery of these vaccines; and what are the cost and cost-effectiveness of vaccinating people highlighted in Nigeria's phase 2 vaccine rollout prioritized by the government, especially the inclusion of those aged between 18 and 49 years. The stakeholder mapping exercise highlighted the range of organizations and groups within Nigeria that could use the information from this HTA to guide decision-making. These stakeholders included both public/government, private and international organizations The dissemination plan developed included disseminating the full HTA results to key stakeholders; production of policy briefs; and presentation at different national and international conferences and peer-reviewed publications., Conclusions: HTA processes that involve stakeholder engagement will help ensure important policy questions are taken into account when designing any HTA including any underpinning evidence generation. Further guidance about stakeholder engagement throughout HTA is required, especially for those with low interest in vaccine procurement and use., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic have widely affected human lives and economy across the globe. There were significant changes in the global environmental conditions in response to the lockdown (LD) restrictions made due to COVID-19. The direct impact of LD on environment is analysed widely across the latitudes, but its secondary effect remains largely unexplored. Therefore, we examine the changes in particulate matter (PM₂.₅) during LD, and its impact on the global croplands. Our analysis finds that there is a substantial decline in the global PM₂.₅ concentrations during LD (2020) compared to pre-lockdown (PreLD: 2017-2019) in India (10-20%), East China (EC, 10%), Western Europe (WE, 10%) and Nigeria (10%), which are also the cropland dominated regions. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the decline in PM₂.₅ positively affects the cropland greening when the influence of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture are limited. Croplands in India, EC, Nigeria and WE became more greener as a result of the improvement in air quality by the reduction in particulates such as PM₂.₅ during LD, with an increase in the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) of about 0.05-0.1, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.05-0.1, respectively. As a result of cropland greening, increase in the total above ground biomass production (TAGP) and crop yield (TWSO) is also found in EC, India and Europe. In addition, the improvement in PM₂.₅ pollution and associated changes in meteorology also influenced the cropland phenology, where the crop development stage has prolonged in India for wet-rice (1-20%) and maize (1-10%). Therefore, this study sheds light on the response of global croplands to LD-induced improvements in PM₂.₅ pollution. These finding have implications for addressing issues of air pollution, global warming, climate change, environmental conservation and food security to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The World Health Organization has launched campaigns to boost immunisation rates to 70 percent globally by the middle of 2022. However, despite the global success of about 64% COVID-19 vaccination coverage, there is a big gap in Nigeria. To date, only 13.8% of the population has received the recommended dose. This demonstrates a significant disparity between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Amidst the wide gap in vaccination, COVID-19 vaccine wastage still occurs in Nigeria. At the end of 2021, it was estimated that over a million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been wasted. It is anticipated that there will be more COVID-19 vaccine wastage in Nigeria, because of the combined factors that threaten vaccination uptake including vaccine accessibility, lack of appropriate storage facilities, poor electricity supply, insecurity challenges, and inadequate health promotion. This results in concomitant financial and opportunity losses. In this paper, we discuss COVID-19 vaccine wastage in Nigeria including causes, and solutions that can be applied to mitigate this wastage., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has been experienced differently by people depending on their socio-cultural contexts. These varied experiences are expressed in various forms of communication, including cartoons. This paper examines the pragmatic resources inherent in COVID-19-related cartoons depicting the impact of the virus on Nigerian society. Forty COVID-19-related cartoons, circulated on social media, were collected on Twitter and WhatsApp platforms between March and April 2020 as data. Multimodality and presupposition served as theoretical framework and descriptive research design was adopted. Findings reveal five socio-contextual domains, religion, health, economy, politics and governance nd family, characterizing the social experiences of Nigerians during the pandemic. Through the evocation of situational reality, pragmatic sarcasm, punning, and orientation to government insensitivity, the cartoonists evoke pragmatic functions of informing and warning about social behaviours in the religion, family and health domains; recreating situational realities on socioeconomic impacts in the domain of economy; and satirizing government policies and mocking politicians' insincerity in the domain of politics and governance on sociopolitical experiences of Nigerians before and during the pandemic. The study concludes cartoons are a strong means of portraying societal realities and people's experiences comically and graphically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the panic-buying of COVID-19 vaccines by wealthy countries for their citizens, otherwise known as 'vaccine nationalism', and the quest to develop local capacity for the production of vaccines in Nigeria. The paper argues that in the light of the global race, and attempts by countries to urgently secure the COVID-19 vaccines for their citizens, it behoves on the government of Nigeria to invest in the health security of its citizens and put aside the over-dependency on charity and goodwill of Western countries at every turn. The paper concludes that vaccine nationalism can spur the development of home-grown capabilities not just for vaccine against COVID-19 but vaccines and other novel therapeutic or prophylactic products for the prevention and treatment of endemic and emerging disease. This will in turn create jobs, improve healthcare delivery, curb medical tourism and stem the tide of migration of health professionals. The methodology is descriptive in approach, relying on personal observation and data gleaned from journals, magazines and Newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the approaches to talent management (TM) in small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) hotels in Nigeria during the COVID-19 crisis drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of Strategy. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivist methodology was adopted, and 42 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with SME hotel owners, self-initiated expatriate (SIE) talent and local workers in Nigerian hotels. A thematic approach to analysis was undertaken to identify key themes. Findings: The findings highlight how SME hotel owners' reactive and short-term approaches to TM have created problems during the pandemic as they are unable to rely on acquiring SIE talent to fill key skills gaps. Furthermore, failure to capitalise on the expertise and networks of their current SIEs has resulted in a lack of knowledge sharing with other local employees. This results in TM strategies that do not offer differentiated approaches that balance talent flows to achieve competitive advantage. Practical implications: SME hotel leaders should adopt a more equitable approach to TM that values all workers rather than exclusively focusing on SIEs. Employment contracts should ensure that SIEs are responsible for training and developing local workers as part of a networking approach to RBV. Originality/value: This novel study focused on TM within SME hotels in a Nigerian context during COVID-19. The findings show how SME senior leaders value SIE talent above local workers and pursue a TM strategy that perpetuates the status quo. The COVID-19 crisis has acted as a catalyst for leaders to recognise the value of local talent and consider a more sustainable approach to TM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of librarian in replicating classroom experiences in an online environment in Nigeria. This article explores the literature that focuses on the adoption of technology in education, various roles being plays by librarians in the 21st century on use of technology for service delivery. The kernel of this article is that advancement in technology has changed not only the nomenclature of librarian but their service delivery from traditional to online mode. The literature reviewed provides a glimpse into how technology can be employed in replicating classroom online with the lockdown of academic institutions as a result of coronavirus as well as possible roles that librarians can play in this wise. This article identifies various tools for online education settings and explains how librarians can collaborate with the stakeholders.

Africa has been known to experience series of problems among which are poverty, food insecurity, lack of access to energy, lack of infrastructure among others. These problems were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a severe impact on the socioeconomic status of households in Africa. This paper examines the relationship between socioeconomic shocks, social protection, and household food security during the pandemic in Nigeria, the Africa's largest economy. Using the World Bank's COVID-19 national longitudinal baseline phone survey (2020) for the analysis and applied the multinomial logit regression, the study finds that socioeconomic shocks resulting from the pandemic have led to an increased level of food insecurity. Social protection programmes have played a crucial role in mitigating the impact of these shocks on households. However, the study also highlights the need for more targeted and effective social protection policies to ensure that vulnerable households are adequately protected from the adverse effects of the pandemic. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers and stakeholders in Africa's largest economy, as they seek to address the challenges posed by the pandemic and promote household food security for the actualisation the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of food and nutrition security (SDG2). The study, therefore, recommends that efforts be made to preserve food supply chains by mitigating the pandemic's effect on food systems, increasing food production, and looking forward beyond the pandemic by building resilient food systems with the use of social protection interventions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Osabohien et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposed weaknesses in the health systems of countries such as Nigeria, which affected the effectiveness of the health system response to the pandemic. This paper provides new knowledge on the level of the availability, effectiveness and equity of resources in response to COVID-19 in Nigeria. This is valuable information for improving the delivery of countermeasures against future pandemics., Methods: The study was conducted at the federal level and in two states in Nigeria. The states were Lagos in the southwest and Enugu in the southeast. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 34 key informants. NVivo version 12 software was used for coding and thematic analysis., Results: There were inadequate, inequitable and suboptimal resources (human, financial, equipment and materials) for the response. In some of the countermeasures, only people that were employed in the formal sector benefitted from the distribution of welfare materials and financial packages; the informal sector, which constitutes the majority of the poor population in Nigeria, was excluded., Conclusions: Inequity and suboptimal availability of resources to control COVID-19 led to reduced effectiveness of the health system response to the disease in Nigeria. Such negative factors must be mitigated in future responses to pandemics in the country., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous public health protocols were instituted by government agencies to safeguard individuals with dementia, their family caregivers, and formal care providers. While these preventive measures were implemented with good intentions, they inadvertently imposed significant challenges on medical social workers in Nigeria. This paper explored the experiences of medical social workers caring for people with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Twenty-six medical social workers from 6 government hospitals in Southwestern Nigeria participated in an in-depth interview. The research reveals 3 pivotal aspects: Firstly, the escalating demands within the work environment, where medical social workers grapple with the intricate task of conveying sensitive information about dementia diagnosis and COVID-19 prevention protocol, managing expectations regarding dementia diagnoses, and navigating resource constraints for individuals with dementia during the pandemic. Secondly, discernible impacts on the work climate and interprofessional relationships shed light on the challenges these professionals face in collaborating with other healthcare providers. Lastly, the reverberations on social workers' personal lives underscore the pandemic's toll on their well-being. Thus, the findings underscore the need for proactive measures to equip medical social workers to face the distinctive challenges in dementia care during future pandemics. Recognizing the potential resurgence of global health crises, the research highlights the need for strategic preparedness to mitigate the impact of future pandemics on the well-being of individuals with dementia and the professionals dedicated to their care., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Population-based study is known to be a very essential type of study during and after a pandemic or epidemic, as it provides crucial information on the incidence, prevalence, and risk factors of the disease in question. There has been limited information about the challenges faced in conducting such surveys in Nigeria. In this paper, we will share our experience, and describe the challenges faced in conducting a population-based seroepidemiological study of COVID-19 in Lagos, Nigeria. Some challenges were peculiar to specific Local Government Areas (LGAs) while others were general. The challenges include general misconceptions of community members about health research, difficulties in mapping houses, planning for data collection, standardizing data collection, working in hard-to-reach communities when resources were limited as well as difficulty in collection of blood and naso-oropharyngeal swabs. Ways of overcoming these problems, lessons learnt, and recommendations are hereby discussed., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: For effective Public Health measures, factors that influence Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) need to be understood. In this paper, we document the relationship between levels of education on the KAP towards COVID-19 among the population of Edo State, Nigeria., Methods: A cross-sectional KAP questionnaire was delivered across 13 communities. The study population was dichotomized into those who had or had not completed secondary education. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine statistical significance., Results: Of the 538 participants, 30% had completed secondary education. Those with secondary education were significantly more likely to recognize symptoms of COVID-19 (P < 0.001). For attitudes, only one option showed a statistically significant association with 78.4% of those who did not complete secondary education having a high confidence in the church compared with 66% of those who had (P = 0.022). For practices, those who have completed secondary education practiced all of the supplied measures more than those who had not, except for taking herbal supplements., Discussion: Higher levels of education impacts on knowledge and practices but has less impact on attitudes regarding how well certain individuals/organizations can handle the pandemic. Findings highlighted the importance of tailoring public health communication and strategies to local populations to improve the efficacy., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the fourth most diagnosed cancer among women globally, with much of the burden being carried by women in limited-resource settings often worsened by the high prevalence of HIV. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted organized screening efforts and HIV management regimens worldwide, and the impact of these disruptions have not been examined in these settings. The purpose of this paper is to describe whether uptake of cervical cancer screening and HIV management changed before, during, and since the COVID-19 pandemic in North-Central Nigeria., Methods: Longitudinal healthcare administration data for women who obtained care between January 2018 and December 2021 were abstracted from the AIDS Prevention Initiative Nigeria (APIN) clinic at Jos University Teaching Hospital. Patient demographics, pap smear outcomes, and HIV management indicators such as viral load and treatment regimen were abstracted and assessed using descriptive and regression analyses. All analyses were conducted comparing two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the four quarters in 2020, and the year following COVID-19 restrictions., Results: We included 2304 women in the study, most of whom were between 44 and 47 years of age, were married, and had completed secondary education. About 85% of women were treated with first line highly active retroviral therapy (HAART). Additionally, 84% of women screened using pap smear had normal results. The average age of women who sought care at APIN was significantly lower in Quarter 3, 2020 (p = 0.015) compared to the other periods examined in this study. Conversely, the average viral load for women who sought care during that period was significantly higher in adjusted models (p < 0.0001). Finally, we determined that the average viral load at each clinic visit was significantly associated with the period in which women sought care., Conclusions: Overall, we found that COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts significantly influenced women's ability to obtain cervical cancer screening and routine HIV management at APIN clinic. This study buttresses the challenges in accessing routine and preventive care during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in low-resource settings. Further research is needed to determine how these disruptions to care may influence long-term health in this and similar at-risk populations., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: African countries leveraged testing capacities to enhance public health action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes experiences and lessons learned during the improvement of testing capacity throughout the COVID-19 response in Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)., Methods: The four countries' testing strategies were studied using a mixed-methods approach. Desk research on COVID-19 testing strategies was conducted and complemented by interviewing key informants. The findings were synthesized to demonstrate learning outcomes across the four countries., Results: The four countries demonstrated severely limited testing capacities at the onset of the pandemic. These countries decentralized COVID-19 testing services by leveraging preexisting laboratory systems such as PCR and GeneXpert used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) to address this gap and the related inequities, engaging the private sector, establishing new laboratories, and using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to expand testing capacity and reduce the turnaround time (TAT). The use of digital platforms improved the TAT. Testing supplies were sourced through partners, although access to global markets was challenging. Case detection remains suboptimal due to high costs, restrictive testing strategies, testing access challenges, and misinformation, which hinder the demand for testing. The TAT for PCR remained a challenge, while RDT use was underreported, although Senegal manufactured RDTs locally. Key findings indicate that regionally coordinated procurement and manufacturing mechanisms are required, that testing modalities must be simplified for improved access, and that the risk-based testing strategy limits comprehensive understanding of the disease burden., Conclusion: Although testing capacities improved significantly during the pandemic, case detection and access to testing remained suboptimal. The four countries could benefit from further simplification of testing modalities and cost reduction. Local manufacturing and pooled procurement mechanisms for diagnostics are needed for optimal pandemic preparedness and response., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Bosonkie, Egbende, Namale, Fawole, Seck, Kizito, Kaba, Kiwanuka, Diallo, Bello, Kabwama, Kashiya, Monje, Dairo, Bondo, Namuhani, Leye, Adebowale, Bassoum, Bamgboye, Fall, Salawu, Afolabi, Ndejjo, Wanyenze and Mapatano.)

Since COVID-19 first made its appearance, the economy of the whole world has been facing unprecedented challenges. As a result of this, researchers investigated the effects of COVID-19 on a variety of important macroeconomic factors pertaining to the Nigerian economy between March 2020 and July 2022. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) were the sources of information regarding the number of cases of Covid-19. The Central Bank of Nigeria was the source of information regarding the value of the country's currency, the interest rate, and the inflation rate (CBN). After subjecting the data to a battery of econometric tests. The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 had a significant impact on interest rates, in contrast to the very little impact that confirmed cases of the virus had. There was a statistically and clinically significant association between COVID-19 validated cases and the inflation rate in Nigeria. This correlation was seen in the country. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic Granger was the cause of macroeconomic indices such as Nigeria's currency rate and interest rate respectively. According to the findings of this study, it is thus feasible to draw the conclusion that the COVID-19 outbreak had an effect on the naira as well as interest rates and inflation in Nigeria. According to the results of the investigation, the authors of the paper came to the conclusion that in order to keep prices stable despite the continuing pandemic, the government of Nigeria should adopt more stringent fiscal and monetary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Direito Internacional is the property of Revista de Direito Internacional and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to Nigeria, the Federal Government of Nigeria restricted human and vehicular movements to curb the spread of the disease. This action had a negative impact on Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance, with a resultant reduction in the number of AFP cases reported. This paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poliovirus surveillance in Nigeria and the proactive interventions by Nigeria´s polio program to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on polio surveillance., Methods: nine innovative strategies were implemented in all 774 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of the country. These strategies were developed by the national surveillance officers and operationalized by sub-national surveillance officers with different strategies starting at different epidemiological weeks from week 14 to 23, 2020. Many of the strategy innovations were technology-based and included: the use of mobile phones to send the AFP case definition and video by WhatsApp or by SMS, the use of state-specific toll-free numbers and Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) (mobile service provider) CallerfeelTM to community informants (CI) who were the main targets of the interventions to increase case detection and reporting. Others included the use of abridged e-surveillance integrated supportive supervision (ISS) checklists, virtual monthly DSNO meetings, and batched AFP stool specimen transportation network., Results: compared to the same period in 2019, the cumulative rate of AFP case detection and reporting had gradually declined from 39.1% in January to 16.7% before the commencement of the interventions in week 20, 2020. However, the detection and reporting increased by 57.% from week 20 to week 47 compared to the same period in 2019. This is because with COVID-19, hospital visitation dropped, and the sick remained in the communities, so the CI network was relied on to detect and report AFP cases. The cumulative proportion of AFP cases reported by community informants as of week 47 increased from 13% in 2018 to 21% in 2020. This indicates an increase of 38%. Thirty-five AFP cases were detected and reported using the MTN Caller Feel strategy, while 15 cases were reported through state-specific toll-free numbers., Conclusion: the implementation of the innovative strategies was able to mitigate the low AFP case detection and reporting observed at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of technology facilitated reaching the CI network, which was more instrumental in detecting and reporting the cases., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (©Aboyowa Arayuwa Edukugho et al.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the health systems and socio-economic foundations of many countries, Nigeria inclusive. The study was carried out to assess, understand, document and report the activities/measures that are considered nationally and sub-nationally significant, both in terms of COVID-19 responses and in terms of strengthening the health system for the future, in response to future threats since this will not be the last pandemic This paper examines how partnerships contributed to the health system and other sectors' responses to COVID - 19 infection in Nigeria., Methods: This was a qualitative study. Data was collected using a scoping literature review and key informant interviews with 36 key stakeholders in the COVID-19 response in Nigeria, in Abuja (national level) Lagos and Enugu states (sub-national level). Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis., Results: It was found that many partnerships were formed when responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The health system leaned towards a horizontal dimension of partnership with non-health governmental sectors, non-governmental sectors, and other countries. All the components of the health system building blocks had a measure of partnership contributing to its accomplishments The partnerships came in varied forms, ranging from advocacy, funding, provision of palliatives to the citizens because of lockdowns, technical assistance, support to research, development of guidelines and health educational materials., Conclusion: The health sector's collaboration with other sectors strengthened all the building blocks of the health system and was invaluable in enhancing the response to COVID-19, which needed a whole of government and a multi-sectoral approach. Formal frameworks for quickly initiating whole-of-government and multi-sectoral partnerships should be developed, with clear roles and responsibilities. This should be deployed for health system resilience and for response to shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

COVID-19 has affected the health, transport, energy, agricultural and other sectors in societies. Specifically, businesses in Nigeria have faced diverse economic challenges. This paper evaluates the resilience strategies employed by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to cope with the pandemic in Kaduna Central, Nigeria using the resilience theory in the business context. As a data collection technique, the quantitative research approach under the positivists’ paradigm was adopted through the use of questionnaires and the qualitative data was gathered by reviewing extant and related literature, and government reports. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that SMEs were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic following the government’s measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. In conclusion, the study revealed that the coping strategies employed by the SMEs do not have a significant impact either positive or negative on their businesses. The challenges encountered by the SMEs in their quest for survival are identified in the study which recommends the enhancement of the SME’s resilience strategies through a collaborative effort with the Government and NGOs and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public health emergencies raise significant concerns about corruption and accountability; however, these concerns can manifest in different ways across diverse locations. For instance, more developed countries with a stronger rule of law may experience more corruption in vaccine procurement, whereas developing countries may experience more corruption at the point of distribution and delivery to end users. This research focuses on corruption concerns in Nigeria, specifically examining the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: This paper utilizes a scoping review and a qualitative research approach. Key informants (n = 40) involved in the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across two states in Nigeria were interviewed. Findings from the scoping review were summarized, and collected data were inductively coded and analysed in themes, revealing clear examples of implementation irregularities and corruption in the country's COVID-19 vaccination processes. Results: Vaccination programme budgeting processes were unclear, and payment irregularities were frequently observed, resulting in vaccinators soliciting informal payments while in the field. Recruitment and engagement of vaccination personnel was opaque, while target vaccination rates incentivized data falsification during periods of vaccine hesitancy. Accountability mechanisms, such as health worker supervision, vaccination data review, and additional technical support provided by donors were implemented but not effective at preventing corruption among frontline workers. Conclusions: Future accountability measures should be evidence-driven based on findings from this research. Personnel recruitment, contracting, budgeting, and remuneration should focus on transparency and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social media platforms, especially Twitter, have turned out to be a major source of data repositories. They have become a platform that citizens can use to voice their concerns about issues that affect them. Most importantly, during the COVID-19 era, the platform was greatly used by governments and health organizations to sensitize people about the safety guidelines that they must adhere to so as to remain safe during the pandemic. As expected, people also used Twitter and other social media platforms to voice their opinions about how governments are handling the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Governments and organizations could, therefore, use these social media as a feedback mechanism that can help them know the view of the citizens about their policies. This could help them in making informed decisions about their policies. Aim: The aim of this paper is to explore the use of BiLSTM deep learning technique for sentiment analysis of COVID-19 tweets. Methodology: The study retrieved 197,327 tweets from the Nigeria Twitter domain using #COVID or #COVID-19 hashtags as keywords. The dataset was retrieved within the 1st month of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria, i.e., March 15–June 15, 2021. BiLSTM deep learning technique was trained using 789,306 sentiment annotated tweets obtained from Kaggle Sentiment140 tweet datasets. The preprocessed case study tweets were then used to evaluate the proposed model. Also, a precision of 78.26% and a recall value of 78.27% were also obtained. Results: With an accuracy of 78.29%, 98,545 (49.93%) positive sentiments and 98,782 negative sentiments (50.06%) were recorded. Also, a precision of 78.26% and a recall value of 78.27% were also obtained. However, the presence of outliers which are tweets not related to COVID but which used the hashtag was observed. Conclusion: This study has revealed the strength of BiLSTM deep learning technique for sentiment analysis. The results obtained revealed an almost balanced sentiments toward the pandemic with 49.93% positive disposition to the pandemic as compared to 50.06% negative disposition. This showed affirmed the impact of COVID vaccine in dousing citizen's tension when it was made available for public use. However, the presence of outliers in the classified tweets could be a pointer to the reason why aspect-based sentiment analysis could be preferred to sentence-based sentiment analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently facing a global pandemic, code-named the Covid-19, which is seriously wrecking a devastating blow on world health care system. Since the first index case was reported in Lagos, Nigeria, in February, 2020, the Federal and State Governments have put measures in place to curtail the spread of the deadly virus in the country. Some of the measures include the constitution of the Presidential Task Force (PTF), provision of isolation and treatment centres for confirmed cases, and the pronouncement of lockdown order by the President and some State Governors. Amidst these measures, cartoonists (artists, or authors in literary context) have taken to the media to creatively present humorous and satirical depictions of the pandemic and social realities in the fight against it. This study, thus, analyses the humorous and satirical depiction of the pandemic, the state of the Nigerian health sector, and the country's major actors in the fight against the scourge, using selected cartoons from the Nigerian context. These cartoons can be classified as graphic literary texts that can be subjected to different interpretations. The cartoons/texts are selected from the Facebook pages of popular Nigerian cartoonists/authors. A total number of ten (10) cartoons/texts were randomly selected between March and April 2020. The number of cartoons was limited to ten (10) in order to accommodate the rigour of qualitative analysis, which, in turn, informed one of the limitations of the study. This study adopts two (2) models/theories in interpreting the cartoons, which are Suls's (1983) Incongruity Resolution (IR) model, a linguistic tool of lexicalisation, re-lexicalisation, and shared sociocultural knowledge used to explicate humour and satire in the cartoons, and Structuralism, which requires human behaviour (as represented in texts or cartoons) to be understood in the context of a broad social system (otherwise called structures) in which they exist. This study observed that the cartoons are not just independent texts or images, but that they are products of the Nigerian social condition, and that understanding them requires a level of familiarity with their contexts of production.It also revealed that, as a means of visual communication, the cartoons exposed the realities in the country and refused to be relegated to simply satirical images of issues and events in the country's history. The analysis showed that cartoons are an important part of the discourse on the pandemic. Equally, the paper revealed that, the cartoonists have deployed both verbal and non-verbal incongruity to present comical images that show beliefs of Nigerians about the pandemic and the level of the country's preparedness in flattening the curve of the contraction of the virus. Although the paper is concerned with Covid-19 in the Nigerian context, it is limited to the linguistic and literary analysis of the pandemic in selected cartoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deadly Coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the world, with dire consequences in virtually all sectors, and across all categories of people. However, vulnerable groups such as the homeless are likely to suffer more devastating effects. Owing to the impracticability of recommended preventive measures among the homeless, they are susceptible to get infected, and possibly die of the virus. The objective of this paper is to examine the vulnerability of the homeless to coronavirus infection and how the circumstances surrounding homelessness could exacerbate the plight of this category of people. The paper relies on secondary data and adopts critical analysis in examining the plight of the homeless regarding the pandemic. It concludes that thousands of the homeless could get infected with Covid-19, and possibly die as a result of the pandemic owing to their vulnerability, occasioned by the condition of homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational technology is a discipline that has a lot of roles to play in the global education system yet, its services had been neglected over the years in Nigeria. The new global reality that was occasioned by the upsurge of COVID-19 has made educational technology a very consequential discipline with conspicuous roles to play in the face of such a global pandemic. COVID-19 has halted many human activities across the globe. Its effect in the education system has resulted to re-adjustment in the school calendar, prolonged graduation dates, and reduced research output. To combat this, many education systems now adopt the services of educational technology thereby changing the old norm. But for this new norm to be sustainable, this paper argues that the education system must show a pragmatic attitude towards the adoption of such innovation rather than a conservative attitude. Therefore, using the diffusion theory of innovation, this paper argues that necessity called for compulsory adoption of innovation in the Nigerian education system. This new opportunity, however, looks bleak as many educational practitioners lack the required skills and attitude to adopt the innovation. It, therefore, concludes that educational practitioners need in-service training to be part of these changes. The government is suggested to apply a systematic approach in procuring and installing ICT facilities that will enhance the diffusion of this innovation into the school system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria has a high maternal mortality rate, yet there is wide variation in the proportion of births by caesarean section between zones, states, and cities within Nigeria. This review examines the pattern of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of mitigation measures on women's health in Nigeria. The combined impact of COVID-19 and conflicts on maternal healthcare and access to obstetric care, as well as the availability of obstetric anaesthesia in Nigeria, are discussed. There is a vicious cycle, intensified by unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and preventable maternal death., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The author declares that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)