Covid-19 Pandemic Recovery Strategy: The Role of Information Technology (IT) in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

As countries of the world are facing unimaginable challenges from the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the strains on governments are extreme;and these have greatly impacted people everywhere. In response to the pandemic, captains of industries have implemented pandemic/communicable disease response plans, assessed and/or initiated business continuity plans, and widespread telework operations. Nigeria's government has also implemented lots of guidelines and these include, social distancing, shutting or locking down of restaurants, bars, movie theaters, gyms, and even worship centres. As a nation, Nigeria has been affected in many areas, for example, the educational system has been truncated, activities of manufacturing industries halted, and technologically, the nation is not moving forward. As a result, this paper aims to examine the role of Information Technology (IT) in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategy in Nigeria. The paper carried out a thorough analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, its economic impact;and how government and private sectors can help in restoring the nation's economy by maximizing the use of InformationTechnology (IT) in Nigeria. Studies were carried out on the pandemic spread with emphasis on attributes, such as, confirmed, recovered, and death cases. Data was extracted from UNDP and WHO recorded data of December 12, 2020. The study shows that the growth of IT has increased steadily in the past nine (9) months with an appreciable increase in its teledensity, info density, and compudensity.