Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Economy of a Low- Resource Setting

Introduction: The lockdown policy imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted various businesses, including trading, inter-state travel for purchasing/selling and supplying goods and services, hospitality industries, and state revenue generation. The study assessed the impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on the economy of a Nigerian low-resource community. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted in Ado-Odo Ota local government area (LGA) of Ogun State, Nigeria, using a structured questionnaire to collect data on the economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on383 participants aged 20 to 60 years in January and February. Data analysis was done using IBM-SPSS version 25. Results: During the lockdown, 26.1% of the respondents lost their jobs, 34.5% experienced salary cuts, and only 6.5% got regular salaries. More than half (53.8%) of participants could not meet their basic needs. All respondents (100.0%) stated that food prices and other necessities were higher during the lockdown than before. The odds of losing jobs were 18.74 [95%CI: 6.20–56.60; P<0.001] and 4.32 [95%CI: 1.50–12.43; P<0.001] times higher among the staff of private organizations and those doing personal businesses than among government workers. The rate of clients/customers loss was 15.21 [95%CI: 7.59–30.51; P<0.001) and 7.07 [95%CI: 3.26–15.34; P<0.001] higher among self-employed and private companies than government establishments. Conclusion: Every worker should enjoy job security to mitigate the job and income loss during a crisis. Loans and grants should be available for small businesses, particularly to overcome the problem. Food security should be provided by subsidizing goods and providing supports to help meet the daily needs of housholdsduring emergencies.