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COVID-19 and E-Learning: Nigeria Tertiary Education System Experience

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International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume V, Issue V, May 2020|ISSN 2454-6194

COVID-19 and E-Learning: Nigeria Tertiary

Education System Experience
Adeoye, I. A.1, Adanikin, A. F.2, Adanikin, A.3
1
Department of Business Admin., Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State, Nigeria
2
Department of Social Science Education, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria
3
Department of Civil Engineering, Elizade University, IlaraMokin, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract - Globally, the world is faced with the COVID-19 education and distance learning however, just a handful of the
pandemic which has held the economy at ransom not exempting world‟s education that are taught online. According to
the educational sector. This pandemic has brought about recent Eduventure (2019), in the United States of America, about
changes and disruptions in the educational sector which serves as 15% of the total undergraduate students are enrolled for online
a catalyst for the development of any nation. Educational sector
learning and distance learning. Developed economies such as
globally is seen to be shifting towards e-learning in order to
cushion the effect of this pandemic. However, developing Canada, United Kingdom and United States have experienced
countries evidence from the Nigeria experience are posed with a decline in their educational revenue as foreign students
the challenge of shifting from the traditional teaching method to either quit their studies or were sent back home. The
the e-learning during the pandemic. The challenges arise as a pandemic has resulted in a more severe consequence on
result of the varying degree of preparedness of the institutions, schools that do not possess the online learning platform.
lack of infrastructures, paucity of funds and policies issues in the
Nigeria education sector. It is in tandem with this prevailing The COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world have taken its
issues that this study examines the Nigeria educational system effects on many sectors of the economy especially in Nigeria.
based on the global pandemic. This paper further discusses the This effect is also evident in the Nigeria educational sector
necessity of e-learning; identifies and discuss challenges as well has the academic session was halted by the Federal ministry
as opportunities. Recommendations to enhance e-learning during of education in order to curtail the spread of this virus in
and post COVID-19 were also given.
educational institutions. Although, this decision came as a
Keywords: COVID-19, E-Learning, Nigerian Universities, shock to many educational institutes as many of these
Academic Calendar, Students institutions were not prepared for the sudden disruption,
others have seen it as a step in the right direction. The
I. INTRODUCTION
challenge then remains how will this pandemic affect students

T he coronavirus which is popularly known as COVID-19

has disrupted the global educational system as most
countries around the world have resulted in temporarily
and academic calendars hence, the use of e-learning as an
alternative learning method. However, despite the immense
benefits of the e-learning platforms available, not many
closure of all educational institutions in an attempt to contain Nigerian universities have embraced it.
the spread of the pandemic.According to the report by
UNESCO (2020), the closure of educational institution has Poor budgetary allocation, corruption and unpreparedness are
impacted over 91% of the world‟s student population. The contributing factors to the inability of many public tertiary
ripple effect of this pandemic has been felt by both the institutions to embrace e-learning during the global COVID-
educators and students in primary, secondary, colleges and 19 pandemic in Nigeria. A ten year (2010-2019) budgetary
universities as academic sessions were disrupted after the allocation to the Nigerian education sector as shown in Table
coronavirus was declare a public health emergency. This has 1 has been very poor and below the 15 to 20 percent
left many students and educators in a rude shock as some of recommended by UNESCO for developing countries like
this institution were at the point of preparing for examination, Nigeria. With budgetary allocations like these comes
admitting of freshmen, beginning of a new semester, amongst deficiencies that does not allow for growth of e-learning and
others. Universities around the world including Africa have creates challenges when institutions try to embrace e-learning
resulted in looking for ways to cope and adapt to academic during pandemics such as the COVID-19.
changes as a result of this pandemic.
This COVID-19 pandemic has shaped a new normal for the
higher education sector across the globe from transforming
the online learning platform, restructuring application
processes, and stimulating crisis management strategies. The
COVID-19 outbreak has opened up the importance of online

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International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume V, Issue V, May 2020|ISSN 2454-6194

Table 1: Nigeria Budgetary allocation to Education (2010 - 2019) tuition paid by their students as compared to their counterparts
Educational in private universities. The efforts of the national open
Budget Percentage of
Year Allocation (₦ university of Nigeria (NOUN) is worthy of note has the
(₦Trillion) Budget (%)
Billion) institution currently operate on the e-learning platform where
2010 5.160 249.09 4.83 learners and lecturer can interact. The sporadic pace of ICT is
2011 4.972 306.30 6.16 seen in the innovative development of advanced countries
such as Japan which conducted a virtual convocation
2012 4.877 400.15 8.20
ceremony for its students using robotics (Kacerauskas
2013 4.987 426.53 8.55 & Kusaityte, 2020). In America, universities such as Harvard
2014 4.962 493.00 9.94 university have embraced e-learning platforms but in most
2015 5.068 392.20 7.74
African countries such as Nigeria, traditional forms (physical
contact) of learning has been the norm. Despite the benefits of
2016 6.061 369.60 6.10 the e-learning platform, there has also be constraint in the full
2017 7.444 550.00 7.38 actualization and utilization of this platform due to the
2018 8.612 605.80 7.03 dynamic Nigeria environment. This paper will examine some
of these challenges and opportunities which can be leverage
*2019 8.830 620.50 7.03
on by both private and public universities in Nigeria.
Total 60.973 4413.17 7.24
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Source:Ndujihe (2018) - Vanguard Newspaper
The term e-learning connotes electronic method of learning
*Ameh and Aluko (2019) – Punch Newspaper which is associated with computerized learning in an
Table 1 reveals that for the 10-year period, the education interactive interface at the convenience of both the learners
sector got an average of 7.24% as against the 15-20% and lecturers. E-learning also implies educationally
recommended by UNESCO. This definitely will not allow technology. According to Eze et al. (2018), e-learning
infrastructures such as ICT platforms, electricity, teacher-tutor education is concerned with the wholisticin corporation of
training amongst others needed to allow e-learning grow in modern telecommunication equipment and ICT resources into
Nigeria to be available. the education system. Parks (2013) posits that the word “e”
should refer to “everything, everyone, engaging and easy” in
However, some universities particularly the private addition to „electronic‟. The benefits of the e-learning include
universities in Nigeria have embraced e-learning as a means to better content delivery, interactivity, quality content delivery
ensure that their academic calendar is not totally distorted. and confidence of both learners and lecturers in the
These universities have devised the use of information and educational sector. Despite the advantages of the e-learning, it
communication technology tools to facilitate learning during is still at its infancy and early adoption stage in Nigeria due to
this pandemic. Several e-learning platforms have been its dynamic structure.
adopted by universities although these platforms are in
exhaustive. They include, Zoom, Microsoft teams, google 2.1 Challenges of e-learning in Nigeria
hangout (meet), skype, Bamboo learning, google classroom, E-learning is still confronted with a lot of challenges in
Docebo, WIZIQ, Adobe captivate, Elucidat, Blackboard learn Nigerian Universities especially during this pandemic as this
amongst others. Private universities seem to be at the forefront is the only medium available for learning. One of these
of e-learning capacity in Nigerian universities as a result of challenges is epileptic power supply in Nigeria especially in
their innovative and flexible operations. Regrettably, it rural areas as there is no guarantee of at least two hours‟
appears that most public universities have not been able to power supply at a stretch. Irregular power supply in Nigeria is
embrace the e-learning platform to the detriment of their seen as an age-long problem which has affected almost every
students and the society at large. Various factors might be aspect of Nigeria economy with no exception to the
responsible for these in the public universities such as student educational sector. This unstable poor power supply has
population, training of lecturers and students, sustainable caused a major setback for technological advancement of
internet facilities amongst others. The aforementioned factors many universities in Nigeria. Most rural areas in Nigeria
coupled with the universities union incessant strikes play a where some students are resident are not even connected to
key role for the set back of public universities academic the national grid and as such, this student will experience
activities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. difficulty in utilizing the e-learning platform effectively. Also,
Private universities have also embraced the e-learning shortage in power supply have brought difficulty in powering
platform to continue with the academic calendar due to the of educational gadget such as smartphones, laptops and
financial commitment to their workforce as shutting down desktop computers needed for learning.
will bring about difficulty in revenue generation. However, Another major obstacle to e-learning in Nigeria is tied towards
the public universities largely depend on government the high cost of internet data services. The internet service
subvention and Tetfund assistance because of the discounted required to connect to this e-learning platform sometimes

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International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume V, Issue V, May 2020|ISSN 2454-6194

requires a lot of data. The cost of purchasing the data bundle them. Hence, it increases satisfaction and decreases stress.
is so high which might be difficult for both students and The knowledge of e-learning will expose both lecturers and
lecturers. In cases where is even data, poor internet students to the reality of the world outside the classroom since
connectivity by network providers is of major concern the world is a global web. The e-learning exposure will ease
especially when it comes to video conferences where both the the student‟s integration into organizations where such
students and lecturers have to interact. The cost of accessing platforms are operational.
the internet in Nigeria is still on the high side. Hence, some
E-learning can be said to be cost effective as it reduces travel
students find it a challenge to afford. The cost of a personal
time and infrastructural development in terms of buildings.
computer (PC) and Laptop are still very high in Nigeria
Arkorful and Abaidoo (2014) discovered that the cost benefit
considering the income level of an average worker in the
of e-learning in training students is lesser than that of physical
country. Few students that are privileged to have a PC/Laptop
(face-to-face) contact. This was arrived at after considering
are not connected to the internet as this do attract extra cost
some factors namely: the number of students trained; distance
which they cannot afford. Also, this poor internet connectivity
to be travelled; time of training. Guragain (2016) also posit
and high cost of data has resulted in low attendance of
that the value of face-to-face class contact content
students during the online classes. This low online class
development, distribution and maintenance cost are
attendance has also been linked to the poverty situation in the
exclusively high as compared to e-learning which is of lower
country as some families and students might not be able to
cost. All these shows that adoption of e-learning tends to solve
afford basic needs such as food and clean water let alone the
educational challenges especially at a time such as the
expensive gadgets or resources to sustain them for online
COVID-19 pandemic.
learning. Another challenge posed by the e-learning education
is the incapability of lecturers to assists learners develop the III. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
skills and trainingrequired to make the e-learning platform
The study concludes that the present world pandemic is
effective. E-learning creates room for complete absence of
physical personal interactions between students and lecturers making the educational sector to look inward. Institutions are
and among their colleagues. now embracing e-learning which serves as alternative to the
face-to-face contact learning thereby helping the institutions
2.2 Opportunities applicable to use of e-learning cover gaps the pandemic might cause the institutions
academic calendar. The adoption of e-learning during the
Despite the challenges posed by integrating and embracing the
COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a lot of lapses and gaps to
e-learning system, it has become the most preferred platform
be filled in the Nigerian educational system. This is most
to learn during global pandemic periods such as the COVID-
obvious amongst the public universities. The challenges of e-
19 where movement is restricted and institutions of learning
learning in Nigeria ranges from irregular power supply, high
are on lockdown. The adoption of e-learning system for
internet subscription costs, poor internet access amongst other
universities will enhance the efficiency of knowledge as both
factors. The applicable opportunities associated with the
students and lecturers will have ease access to a large amount
embracing e-learning includes lecturers‟/learners convenience,
of information within the global village. In most universities,
exposure and cost benefits.
class space for lectures is usually a problem as some times
there is clash in timetable or overpopulated students. This study recommends that government needs to be more
firm in their handling of public universities administration and
The e-learning system will completely reduce the issues of
help prepare them for the adoption of ICT and e-learning in
insufficient classrooms for lectures as student can easily take
Nigerian institutions. Furthermore, private universities should
the lectures online without any disruption at their
be proactive in ameliorating the challenges identified in this
convenience. Also, e-learning afford students and lecturers to
study and build on the opportunities e-learning offers
participate in class in their comfort zone with basic amenities
institutions even post COVID-19. Furthermore, effective
they need when compared to the traditional teaching method
government policies that will sustain workable social
where sometimes these basic amenities are unavailable for
infrastructures that will be sustainable even during unforeseen
conducive learning. This is supported by the findings of
crisis is required. Finally, government should infuse more
Pingle (2011) that undergraduates in India have a higher
monetary resources in Nigeria‟s educational sector so that its
acceptance level of comfort working with computers and
institutions can compete globally.
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