44.5 per cent of Nigerians aren’t confident their children will be protected from coronavirus when schools reopen ― US poll

44.5 per cent of Nigerians are not confident that their children will be protected from being exposed to coronavirus when schools reopen. Meanwhile, 97.3 per cent of Nigerians agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for greater investment in public healthcare.

This is according to two ‘Coronavirus Opinion Polls’ conducted by the United States Embassy in Nigeria.

The first poll was conducted from May 30 to June 5, 2020, and responses were received from 404 Nigerians.

This poll stated that 77.8 per cent of Nigerians are impressed with the United States contribution of over $32 million to help Nigerians deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The poll revealed that 80.1 per cent of Nigerians agree that the Almajiri educational system needs to be replaced after being criticised for being a source of community spread of the coronavirus.

The poll also showed that 46.1 per cent of Nigerians wash their hands constantly, 44.5 per cent wash their hands frequently, 9.1 per cent seldomly wash their hands while 0.3 per cent have never washed their hands.

53.7 per cent of Nigerians are confident that a vaccine for coronavirus will be developed soon while 30.1 per cent are sceptical.

The coronavirus opinion poll also revealed that 65.3 per cent of Nigerians always wear a face mask in public, 28.3 per cent occasionally wear a face mask, 4 per cent seldomly wear a face mask while 2.4 per cent have never worn a face mask in public.

Another poll with the same title was conducted by the embassy from June 6 to 13, 2020 where 452 responses were gotten from Nigerians.

In this poll, 51.5 per cent of respondents agree that majority of Nigerians are adequately informed about coronavirus while 40.8 per cent think otherwise.

49.5 per cent of Nigerians believe that the local media is doing an adequate job on the reporting of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The poll revealed that 61.4 per cent of Nigerians agree that social media is a primary source of reliable information while 34.5 per cent disagree.

Also, 40.5 per cent of Nigerians believe that the Zoom and WebEx trend to conduct meetings and hold events will continue even after the pandemic recedes.

47.7 per cent of Nigerians believe that online teaching/learning is not effective while 35.7 per cent believe it is somewhat effective.

Finally, 44.5 per cent of Nigerians believe that when schools reopen, they are not confident that their children will be protected from being exposed to the coronavirus. 21.6 per cent say they are confident.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE