Developing the Rural Poor

A Trajectory to Curbing the Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate poverty in the rural areas as one of the major causes of the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.  Nigeria is a country with an overwhelming population of more than two hundred million people. Out of this number, the rural communities host the greater percentage. Rural communities are characterized by endemic poverty and lack. Covid-19 pandemic is a disease transmitted through body contact with the infected person. The level of poverty in the rural communities propelled the teeming population to engage in short time migration to urban areas in search of better life. This trend exposes the population to this deadly pandemic. Studies have been carried out on micro preventive measures like the public compliance to Covid-19 non-pharmaceutical measures. However, none of these studies has addressed the poverty nature of the rural dwellers as a causative factor to persistent internal migration which ultimately exposes greater percentage of the population to the deadly virus. Everett Lee’s theory of migration was adopted as the theoretical framework. The paper concluded   that rural poverty is one of the greatest challenges in curbing the wide spread of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The study recommended that it is crucial for the poverty in the rural communities to be addressed through the provision of those pull factors in the urban areas like good water and sanitation, markets, schools, health facilities among other infrastructures. This will curb the spread of the virus.