Title:
VIRTUAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Authors:
Geraldine Ifesinachi Nnamdi- Eruchalu ,Nigeria

Abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic grounded the world to a halt in the early months of 2020, and exposed the weaknesses of the traditional face-to- face teaching method. This study investigates into the challenges and the prospects of virtual education in Nigeria as they applied to the lecturers of Nnamdi Azikiwe University when they embraced it to conclude lectures before the 2018/2019 second session examinations. The main contributions of this research is to assess the experiences of the lecturers in virtual education, and to evaluate the feasibility of implementing it in Nigeria’s public universities especially as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, and as the education industry is facing disruptions caused by security challenges in some parts of Nigeria. The data for this study was got from questionnaires distributed to thirty lecturers of the Department of English Language and Literature. The analysis is done using qualitative and quantitative methods. It is observed that the majority of the lecturers were dissatisfied with the online teaching experience and so kick against adopting it in Nigeria’s public universities. The research concludes that since the world is a global village, and virtual education is being harnessed effectively in the education sector globally, government should make the necessary provisions that will facilitate its adoption and use in Nigerian public universities so as to equip them to interact and compete with universities in other parts of the world. The universities should adopt strategies and policies that will convince the lecturers of the indispensability of online education in our modern world.