Twenty (20) per cent of Nigeria’s fulltime workforce lost employment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a new report released on Tuesday in Abuja.
The report, titled “The Impact of COVID-19 on Business Enterprises in Nigeria,” highlights the significant decline in revenue faced by enterprises and establishments across the country as a result of the pandemic.
The report based its findings on interviews with almost 3,000 businesses from both the formal and informal sector across major industries of the economy.
According to the report, 81 per cent of enterprises interviewed experienced a decline in revenue and 73 per cent saying they faced liquidity challenges due to secondary impacts of COVID-19 in 2020.
The report said the median loss in revenue reported remained at 44 per cent in comparison to 2019 revenues, stressing that while there had been promising signs of recovery in 2021, COVID-19 has had an outsized socio-economic impact on Nigeria.
“From disruptions in supply chains, to ongoing supply and demand shocks and a drop in consumer confidence, these challenges are expected to leave lasting impact on the businesses and enterprises that make up the backbone of the economy.
“Close to 60 per cent of enterprises surveyed experienced an increase in operational costs with the price of raw materials and logistics being the top two contributors to this increase.
“Other operational challenges included access to credit and capital, high expenditure on utilities and the lack of an adequate social safety net, especially for informal enterprises,” the report reads in part.
The report also showed that one in three business enterprises surveyed indicated that they knew of businesses that had permanently closed due to operational challenges resulting from the pandemic.
According to the report, businesses were likely to continue experiencing the impact of the pandemic even after the easing of public health measures.
The report said that in spite of reduced restrictions at the time of the interviews, 74 per cent of enterprises still reported a decrease in production levels when compared to the same time in 2019.
