The World Bank has said in its recent report that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought Nigerian families’ food security under threat.
In the new report, COVID-19 in Nigeria: Frontline Data and Pathways for Policy, released in Washington, last night, the bank said that Nigeria “already faced complex development challenges, the pandemic continues to affect health outcomes, human-capital accumulation, household poverty and coping strategies, and labour-market dynamics.”
The report draws on innovative sources of high-frequency data, namely, the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS), to inform the choices that Nigeria’s leaders now face.
According to the World Bank, “The report shows that the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for human capital, livelihoods, and welfare are proving to be severe.
“While many schools have reopened across Nigeria, learning that was lost during the COVID-19 crisis still needs to be recouped and some children have not returned to school. Even though many Nigerians have returned to work, the jobs to which they have shifted – mainly in small-scale non-farm enterprises – may not offer income security, making it difficult for households to escape poverty.
“With the COVID-19 crisis ushering in associated shocks – especially to food prices – and social protection remaining rare, households’ food security and their welfare at large is under serious threat.”
Speaking on the report, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, said, “The COVID-19 crisis has provided a wake-up call to address the long-standing structural challenges that could constrain the government’s ambition to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
“There is no time like the present for the country to prepare for future climate and conflict shocks and seize the promise of its young population to lay strong foundations for inclusive growth.”
The report suggested rolling out vaccines quickly and equitably to reduce the direct health threat posed by the virus.
It also added that it would be essential to help children remediate the learning losses incurred during the pandemic – by getting them back to school or by finding low-tech remote solutions that work for the poor; as well as an expansion of the social protection which could provide short-term relief for the welfare losses currently faced by Nigerian households.
