About four in ten Nigerians lost their jobs to Coronavirus in April according to the Nigerian Bureau of statistics (NBS).
According to an NBS survey, respondents were drawn from the poorest households where about five in ten people (45%) stopped working due to Coronavirus as well as the wealthiest household where four in ten (39%) also lost their jobs.
The NBS conducted a longitudinal phone survey on the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 on Nigerian households between April 20 and May 11, 2020. This period also coincided with a total lockdown Imposed by the Federal Government on March 30.
3,000 households wer contacted and 1,950 households were fully interviewed.
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According to findings from the survey, Commerce, Service and the Agricultural sectors were most affected by the fallout from the virus.
Households with non farm businesses lost about 85% of job lost (8 in 10). Households engaged in farming and animal production lost 73% (7 in 10). About 6 in 10 (58%) wage earners also lost their jobs during the period in review.
The NBS added further that 8 in 10 people interviewed (79%) reported a decrease in income for the period also.
Seven days before the survey commenced, the bureau discovered that many households (35- 39%) could not afford to buy staple foods to prepare for the impending lockdown when they wanted to.
The increased in prices of food items also reduced the purchasing power of about 85% (9 in 10) of households during the coronavirus pandemic. It was only 19% (2 in 10) between January 2017 and January 2019.
Consequently, 51% of all households reduced their food consumption in other to accommodate the new realities.
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