Governance and Covid-19 Pandemic- A Critical Assessment of Infrastructural Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is indisputably faced with the vagaries of unbearable consequences occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic. All measures put in place by government to combat the pandemic could not yield much fruits due to lack of infrastructural development evidenced in bad roads, poor healthcare facilities, poor power supply, poor educational facilities and inadequate employment. Many citizens have died and many subjected to ongoing untold hardship due to inadequacies in the functioning of the various sectors of the country. The discourse anchored on structural functional tool of analysis popularized by Spencer Herbert, Talcott Parsons, among others; stressed on the relationship between the various structures that made up the society. The theory is of the assumptions that a system has parts that are interdependent and must function together for the stability of the whole. Therefore, proper functioning of health sector, education sector, transportation, housing sector, road infrastructure and good economy for job opportunities would have created sufficient buffers and resilience against COVID-19 and even future exogenous shocks. Infrastructural decay should be urgently addressed for stability and good governance in Nigeria.

Keywords: Governance, Development, COVID-19, Road network, Health Sector, Housing facilities, power supply, Education Sector, Transportation System, Employment