42% of Nigerians lost their jobs to COVID-19 –NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has declared that 42 per cent of the respondents it surveyed in its newly released COVID-19 Impact Monitoring report were not currently working due to the coronavirus outbreak.

NBS noted that the survey was carried out from 20th April to 11th May at a time a federally mandated lockdown was in force in the country.

The consequences of the pandemic were most telling on the service, commerce and agriculture sectors, the report stated, while 79 per cent of respondents claimed that their total household income has decreased since the middle of March.

“Experience of economic shocks in the few months after the outbreak of coronavirus far exceeds shocks experienced between 2017 and 2019.

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“The most widely reported shock experienced by households was an increase in prices of major food items faced by 85 per cent of households since the outbreak compared to only 19% between January 2017 and January 2019,” the report read in part.

As a buffer against hard times, 51 per cent of all households resorted to reducing food consumption just as 29 per cent are drawing down their savings in order to survive the crisis.

26 per cent of the 1,950 households surveyed said it was impossible for them to access medical treatment when they required it during the period.

“38% of households with children who attended school prior to school closures due to the pandemic reported that their children did not engage in any learning/education activities during the 7 days prior to the interview,” the report said.

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