The Social Impact of Covid-19 among Rural Communities in Enugu State, Nigeria

Since the eruption of the lethal and infectious coronavirus pandemic in December, 2019, Nigerians and people across the world have continued to wrestle with the negative outcomes related with the virus.  In Nigeria, the government’s unsatisfactory reaction to the needs of the people and many more issues gave reason for the present investigation and the study sought to assess the social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The study stuck to a Qualitative research Model and adopted an explorative research design, interviews were also conducted on traders, food vendors, transporters, small and medium scale businesses, and some other individuals who were distressed by the lockdown policy. Findings from the study revealed that citizens from the rural areas were socially affected with low life expectancy and increase in crime rate.  It was recommended that government should provide security and health infrastructures to increase the quality of life, be responsible to citizens and finally, government should be transparent, responsive and shun corruption.  All these will go a long way in cushioning the social effects of the pandemic.