COVID-19 and livelihoods status of people with disabilities in Northern Nigeria: A mixed-methods

The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the entire world with devastating consequences in collapsing global and local economies. PWDs are particularly exposed to the risks of the pandemic as well as to the policy measures meant to address its spread considering their underlying predicaments. This study aims at examining the differentiated impact of COVID-19 pandemic on livelihood status of PWDs in northern Nigeria based a sample size of 3,301 respondents. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis. The paired t-test results established a significance reduction in the respondents’ levels of income and numbers of hours of work during COVID-19 pandemic and an insignificant difference between the available landed property and value of livestock owned by PWDs before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. The disaggregated analysis of the impact equally established differing impacts of COVID-19 policy measures across the three geo-political zones. The study argued that COVID-19 policy measures have further exposed PWDs to shocks and cut off their sources of social support without any special arrangements to address their peculiar predicaments. This implicates the need for proactive strategies and inclusive social protection programs tailored towards the needs of PWDs by healthcare and welfare agencies.