CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

It could have been unimaginable that a health crisis will generate into a global economic disaster like never before seen as is currently been evidenced by businesses and countries around the world. Besides the brouhaha arising from the US-China trade war and Brexit in 2019, which was predicted to have dire economic impact on entrepreneurship and the world economy by 2020, no one saw the anxiety and economic breakdown a health related crisis could cause the economies of the world. Although history has on record the diverse deadly pandemics the world has experienced, such as the Black Death, the Bubonic Plague and the Spanish Flu etc., COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) as it is popularly called took the world by storm and crippled the entire global business system and economy just within two months of its spread from Wuhan, China to the rest of the world. COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the newly discovered strain of coronavirus which results in illness in humans (Africa CDC, 2020; WHO, 2020). It is a communicable disease that spreads from person to person through air droplets projected through coughing or sneezing from an infected person. The disease is also transmitted persons contact surfaces that have droplets of the virus on it with their hands and touch their eyes, mouth or nose with the contaminated hands. Common symptoms of the virus include fever, dry cough, aches and pains, sore throat, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, difficulty in breathing, chest pain or pressure, loss of speech of movement etc. While the number of COVID-19 infection cases and deaths continue to rise in different proportions across countries and regions of the world: global infections 19,357,085 million, with 721,174 deaths; Africa has 1,022,084 million infections with 22,491 deaths; and in Nigeria the NCDC reports 45,687 infections, 32,637 recoveries and 936 deaths (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [ECDC], 2020a; ECDC, 2020b; Johns Hopkins, 2020; The Guardian, 2020), the immeasurable depth of the economic hardship caused by the health crisis is without any doubt the worst in the history of modern civilization. Reports continually show the abysmal sufferings of micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) as the pandemic has ravaged the vast majority of businesses (about 60%) everywhere in the world where lockdowns and quarantines were used as a strategy to curb its spread (Borino & Rollo, 2020). According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), developing countries are hit the hardest by COVID-19 as one out of four businesses will close permanently if governments within those regions fail to act fast. In fact, 94% of the Fortune 1000 companies globally, and businesses in Nigeria have been severely affected and experiencing massive disruptions with millions of job losses as a result of COVID-19. Recent survey findings suggest that two-thirds of micro firms are devastatingly more impacted by COVID-19, compared with 42% for large companies (Olisah, 2020). The lockdown as a measure to curb the spread of the virus, is making situations extremely difficult for entrepreneurship as initial estimates show that business and work activities have been reduced by at least 50%, with huge decline in revenues, reduction in import and exports, increase in unemployment with a possible loss of 45% (26,542,500) of all jobs in the MSME sector in Nigeria (Fems, Opigo, & Owutuamor, 2020).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A Survey of the Impact of COVID-19 on Micro, SMall and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria, 2020) and an alarming 305 million full-time job losses globally since the pandemic (Kenny, 2020); however, just as other pandemics like the Spanish Flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Cholera, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Zika, Leprosy, Smallpox, H1N1, Plague of Justinian, Ebola, Swine Flu and Influenza etc., all eventually faded away, so too will the threat occasioned by COVID-19 dissipate into thin air (LePan, 2020; Rosenwald, 2020), even though the socio-economic impact that accompanied it will still be felt for a long period of time after the virus fades away. But the question will be, what next for entrepreneurs? What opportunities are available for entrepreneurs to take advantage of? It is to this regard that the study is based on the effect of covid 19 on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to examine the effect of covid 19 on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. The objectives of the study are:

1. To determine the relationship between covid 19 and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria
2. To determine the effect of covid19 pandemic on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria
3. To determine the role of government in the resolution of entrepreneurship crisis and its structural causes in Nigeria
4. To recommend ways to improve entrepreneurship development in Nigeria

1.4 RELEVANT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions guide the objectives of the study:

1. What is the relationship between covid 19 and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria?
2. What is the effect of covid19 pandemic on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria?
3. What are the roles of government in the resolution of entrepreneurship crisis and its structural causes in Nigeria?
4. What are the ways to improve entrepreneurship development in Nigeria?

1.5 RELEVANT RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: covid19 pandemic has no significant effect on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria

H1: covid19 pandemic has significant effect on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on the effect of covid 19 on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria will be of immense benefits to the business owners in Nigeria in the areas of decision making and business management during the pandemic. The study will also create a level of awareness before the federal government of Nigeria on the adverse effect of the covid19 pandemic on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. The study will serve as a repository of vital information to students and researchers that desire to know more about the covid19 pandemic and entrepreneurship. Finally the study will contribute to the body of the existing literature on the effect of covid 19 on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers on the effect of covid 19 on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

CORONA VIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19):

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus. The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently, avoiding touching your face, and avoiding close contact (1 meter or 3 feet) with people who are unwell

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values than simply economic ones