Intra-Lagos migration and spread of COVID-19: revisiting the structural vulnerability theory

Abstract This article reviews how the intra-Lagos migration and routinized lifestyle activities of residents impact the spread of COVID-19 in the context of structural vulnerability theory. This study collected data from 32 purposively selected in-depth interview participants using a qualitative method. The data were thematically and content analyzed. It found that the lockdown worked between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm daily at night, social community replaced social distancing. The participants, who lived on daily incomes without palliatives, embarked more on intra-Lagos migration in defiance of the lockdown to justify the assumptions of structural vulnerability theory. The study concludes that the government should impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent night migration-induced infection in Lagos if a future pandemic occurs. The Ministry of Education should monitor Lagos communities to protect vulnerable children from the threat of infections. Moreover, public policy should improve the capacity of children to display the appropriate forms of lifestyle and routine activities that discourage careless infection-spreading migration as a means of promoting solidarity for public health in Lagos. In readiness for future epidemics, the article suggests a probe of the handlers of the distribution of the COVID-19 palliatives that caused residents to throng the streets of Lagos and Nigeria for food. IMPACT STATEMENT The ravaging effects of pandemics on the socioeconomic well-being of societies are intense. This reality justifies this investigation into the Covid-19 pandemic that threatens the inherent solidarity of the African brotherhood. The study examines the implications of intra-Lagos migration during the Covid-19 lockdown. The findings of the study underscore the necessity for micro- and macro-level partnerships to perfect mitigation, containment, and preparedness agenda in the event of another epidemic. The study discusses the residents’ migration patterns, the extant restriction orders, the misconduct of the law enforcement agencies, the insensitivity of government in politicizing the distribution of foreign-funded palliatives, and the survival of individuals whose economies had been undermined by the movement restrictions. The lockdown was only theoretically wholesome in its effectiveness as more men defied the lockdown norms for purely existential reasons. If the pandemic had truly hit Lagos, the disposition of the government would have caused a great tragedy.