CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Universities and college campuses are places where students live and study in close proximity to each other. They are also buzzing cultural hubs where students are brought together from faculties around the school. Recently, the foundations of this unique ecosystem have been impacted significantly by the rapid spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, creating uncertainty regarding the implications for higher education. Over the past 52 week, education officials have been forced to cancel lectures.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). These viruses were originally transmitted from animals to people. SARS, for instance, it was transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS moved to humans from a type of camel. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. The name coronavirus comes from the Latin word corona, meaning crown or halo. Under an electron microscope, it looks like it is surrounded by a solar corona. The novel coronavirus, identified by Chinese authorities on January 7 and since named SARS-CoV-2. it is a new strain that had not been previously identified in humans. Little is known about it, although human-to-human transmission has been confirmed.
Countries around the world are scrambling to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. This outbreak of COVID-19 is a global health emergency, the WHO said on January 30, raising the alarm further on March 11 when it declared the crisis of the pandemic.
On 27 February 2020, Nigeria confirmed its first case in Lagos State, an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria had returned on 25 February from Milan, Italy through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, fell ill on 26 February and was transferred to Lagos State Biosecurity Facilities for isolation and testing. In order to contain the spread of the virus in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education has directed all educational institutions in Nigeria to shut down and allow students to go home as cases of reported COVID-19 increases as a strategy to contain the spread of the virus.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) tracked the impact of the pandemic on education. As of March 30, they estimate that 87 percent of the world’s students? that is 1.5 billion learners have been affected by school closures. The bulk of these students are enrolled in primary and secondary schools, but there are also millions of students affected at the pre-primary and tertiary education levels. More than 180 countries have shut school doors nationwide, while others have implemented localized school closures. Specifically, in Nigeria the following have been identified as the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on higher institutions: reduction of international education, disruption of academic calendar of higher institutions, cancellation of local and international conferences, teaching and learning gap, loss of workforce in the educational institutions, and cut in budget of higher education.