17% of Nigerians don’t believe COVID-19 is real – Report

Amidst the continuous surge in the number of coronavirus cases in Nigeria, a survey has found that nearly a fifth of Nigerians still do not believe the disease is real.

The study by the research firm, SBM Intel, in all 36 states and the FCT, found that only 68.8 per cent of Nigerians believe that the virus is real.

The report said 14.4 per cent of Nigerians were not sure that COVID-19 is real, while 16.7 per cent did not believe it is real.

It said less than 50 per cent of respondents in Ekiti, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa and Sokoto States thought the virus was real.

The survey, titled: “COVID in Nigeria – The second wave” and published Thursday, X-rayed people’s perceptions about the existence of COVID-19, as well as their reactions to the existing guidelines meant to curb its spread and the vaccines discovery and acceptance.

Survey

Of 36 states surveyed, the report noted that in most of the states (23), a large majority of respondents did not think that people were taking the right measures to prevent COVID-19 in their states.

It was only in Bauchi, Delta and Osun that more respondents believed that people were taking the right measures to curb the spread of the virus.

According to the report, only 39.9 per cent of the respondents said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine, while almost equal proportion of respondents (35.9 per cent) said they would not.

The majority of the respondents were between 28-40 years (36.7%) followed by those between 18-27 years (24.0%), then 41-55 years (22.2%) which represents the active (working) population.

Some 9.5 per cent of the respondents were older than 55 years, and a smaller percentage, 7.7 per cent were younger than 18 years.

Low mortality

The report said sceptics cited the low death rate in the country as the reason for their disbelief.

“Some believe that the vaccines are a tool to depopulate Nigeria, while others expressed concern about the effectiveness ratio and the side-effects that the vaccine might have,” the report said.

The survey said 63.3 per cent of Nigerians were opposed to another lockdown.

It was only in Abia and Gombe where a slim majority agreed that another lockdown would be necessary if the cases continue to rise.