Beyond being a public health crisis, a disease outbreak often mirrors the deeper sociopolitical and economic struggles within a society. Nigeria recorded the highest COVID-19 morbidity and mortality figures in West Africa, yet stark sub-national variations were evident across the country. This raises a critical question: What does the geography of the pandemic reveal about the strengths and fault lines of Nigerian society? Adopting an eclectic methodological approach—combining disease mapping, contextual reflection, interviews, archival/library research and online ethnography—this study analysed diverse data sources including newspapers, morbidity reports and disease maps. The findings demonstrate that COVID-19 in Nigeria was not merely a public health emergency but a crisis of multiple forms that exposed the nation’s institutional weaknesses, governance failures and social inequities.
Speaker: Dr Tolulope Osayomi (TORCH International Fellow, University of Oxford) Commentator: Mr Utsa Bose (Faculty of History, University of Oxford)
