Root cause of factors enhancing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Nigerian informal urban settlements: issues and possible solutions

ABSTRACT

Recent studies showed that physical distancing and proper hygiene measures mitigate the fast spread of COVID-19. But how far the informal urban settlements residents can adhere to these and other measures are yet to receive in-depth studies in Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated the level of residents’ compliance and proffer possible solutions that will mitigate the pandemic spread. Five cities across Nigeria were engaged as the case study via a phenomenology type of qualitative research. The study combined MAXQDA 2020 with thematic analysis to describe the data. Findings show that majority of the informal urban settlements in Nigeria can enhance the spread of COVID-19. As part of this paper’s implications, findings will strengthen collaboration with relevant stakeholders regarding effective control measures and propose measures possibly to be adopted by other developing countries with similar attributes in the informal urban settlements.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• housing
• informal settlements
• Nigeria
• outbreaks
• pandemics

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the anonymous reviewers for providing constructive comments to enhance the quality of this paper. Lastly, the authors are grateful to the participants, especially the medical experts for their cooperation and valuable responses, which form the basis of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Bekos Energy Services Limited [grant number CSR/2020/002/SD/004].