Telecommuting: A Panacea to COVID-19 Spread in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

The paper examines how telecommuting could serve as a panacea to the spread of COVID-19 in Nigerian Universities. The research sample consists of 119 respondents, of which 36 are lecturers and 83 are students. The primary source was used in data collection with a structured questionnaire which employed five-point Likert – scale. The questionnaire was administered to respondents online via Google forms (https://bit.ly/3cdbkSZ). The study adopted the qualitative and quantitative data analysis method. ANOVA, Correlation and Regression analyses were used to test the Hypotheses with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The Cronbach Alpha test was adopted for the establishment of reliability Coefficient. The findings revealed that Telecommuting strongly affects the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, we found that online teaching could help with social distancing. Social media has a negative correlation with community spread of COVID-19, while video conferencing has a positive impact on the importation of COVID-19 and that Internet usage could curb the spread of coronavirus in Nigerian University. The study concludes that telecommuting is an effective strategy the Nigerian Government should adopt in the educational sector to avoid any future disease spread that would disrupt the academic activities. The paper recommends that the ministry of health should enforce all the Institutions of learning in Nigeria from primary to Tertiary to be Information Communication Technology,( ICT) compliance to enable telecommuting to be active and efficient.

Why Telecommuting Became Redundant During the COVID‐19 Pandemic?

“…In addition, the virtual work environment [15,72,73,74], virtual training [75,74]; and selfmanagement of the employees [15] also affect WLB [30,23,76] have provided supportive evidence for findings of this study. To eliminate conflict and stress from the virtual environment, decision-makers must adequately study the situation, identify the issues, and take proactive action to enhance employee performance and organizational well-being.…”

Enhancing Organizational Performance: The Role of Training and Development

“…Gartner (2020a) a world leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500 conducted a survey in April 2020 on 229 Human Resources (HR) departments which showed that nearly 50% of organizations had more than 80% of their employees working remotely from home during early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic with an overall estimated substantial long-term increase for teleworking after the pandemic. Onyeukwu et al (2020) conducted a survey on how telecommuting could serve as a panacea to the spread of Covid-19 in Nigerian Universities with 119 respondents (36 lecturers and 83 students) and concluded that teleworking is an effective strategy the Nigerian government should adopt in the educational sector to avoid any future disease spread that would disrupt the academic activities. The speed with which many organizations adjusted to the health crisis by performing a significant number of jobs from home is indicative that the use of telework precrisis was well below what is feasible.…”

Overcoming Workplace Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Telecommuting Academic Staff in Nigerian Private Universities

“…Its entry into Nigeria through, an Italian citizen on the 25th of February 2020 led to nationwide lockdown and closure of schools which added to the precarious academic situation for which ASUU had embarked on strike weeks earlier. Telecommuting became expedient to be adopted as work strategy in teaching students and performing other roles by academic staff across the country (Onyeukwu, Adeniyi & Amin, 2020) using ICT online-tools such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, WhatsApp and other communication facilities including computer, teleconferencing, text messages, etc. to interact with students, colleagues or clients at different places (Dawodu & Osondu, 2011) thereby unbinding time and tasks from work center.…”

“…Roles conducive to telecommuting rely on ICT devices or information-base with minimal supervision. University academic staff being knowledgeable are expected to be adept in the use of ICT devices which make teaching interesting and enable the lecturers and students to interact as if they are in a regular classroom situation (Onyeukwu, Adeniyi & Amin, 2020). However, telecommuting is constrained by technological and organizational factors that make its adoption difficult in the work place (Cooper & Kurland, 2002).…”

“…Recent data show that ICT usage in Nigeria has substantially improved, there are about 92.3 million internet users and this figure is likely to reach 187.8 million in 2023. Internet penetration is expected to increase from 47.1 percent in 2018 to about 84.5 percent in 2023 with more than 50 million Nigerians acquiring the capacity to access the internet (Onyeukwu, Adeniyi & Amin, 2020). Those with this capacity are largely the academic staff.…”