PERCEIVED IMPACTS OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN (2020) ON CHANGES IN LIFESTYLE AMONG COMMUNITIES IN SABON GARI, KADUNA STATE – NIGERIA

Abstract

The study, carried out in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State examined the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the change in lifestyles and behaviour of adult males, adult females and youths. A Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 375 respondents for the study. Primary data were generated through the administration of structured questionnaire while data were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and logit regressions analysis. The hypothesis was tested with t-test statistics. Result shows that those who had tertiary education among the adult males adult females (and youths were 56%, 46% and 42% respectively attained tertiary education. Also, the use of social media was more among youths (78%), than the adult males (67%) and adult females (60%) while WhatsApp was the prevalent social media application used by youths (52%), adult females (48%) and adult males (38%). Change in lifestyles and behaviour show that there was increase in sleep during the day among the youths (97%), increase in the use of social media among youths (90%), increase in domestic violence as perceived by adult female (98%) and increase in the use of drugs among youths (80%). Result further revealed that change in lifestyle was influenced by level of income, participation in social group, access to social media and the type of social media application used. It was concluded that the lockdown order impacted on the lifestyles and behaviour of the respondents. The study recommended that government and other relevant authorities, should make provision through the use of appropriate technology and applications to ensure that people could order for food, household items and other necessary needs through online with designated agents who are vaccinated, trained and certified free from the pandemic to deliver the ordered items to their door steps.