INVESTIGATION OF THE LEVEL OF COVID-19 SAFETY COMPLIANCE AMONG SMES IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

2.1 Conceptual Framework

CORONAVIRUS

Corona virus is a large group of viruses that resemble a crown. The word corona is a Latin word meaning crown (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/types.html). There are different types of corona viruses and people around the world commonly get infected with human corona viruses 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS-CoV; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS; and novel Corona virus or SARS-CoV-2 are all caused by corona viruses and result in severe respiratory illnesses.

The 2019 novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19), was first identified in Wuhan, China, among people having pneumonia. These ones were associated with seafood and live animal market https://openwho.org/courses/introduction-to-ncov. In China as of February 14, 2020, there were 51986 confirmed cases in a single province (Hubei); out of which 1318 cases died Yong et. al (2020).

Routes of transmission of the virus include respiratory droplets and fecal-oral Yong et. al (2020). The virus invades the oral cavity, respiratory mucosa and conjunctiva, and has been through coughing, sneezing, contaminated hands, foods, and water.

The first case of corona virus reported in Nigeria was confirmed on February 27th by an Italian man who arrived Nigeria from Milan, stayed in the country for almost two days before being isolated. Before now, he had travelled through Lagos and visiting other places in the country. The outbreak of the virus COVID- 19, has worst hit Italy, among all other European country. The Italian man who was confirmed to have been infected with corona virus arrived Nigeria in February 24, 2020 on the Turkish Airline that had a connection with Istanbul. It was reported that he spend a night in hotel close to the airport and later visited the neighboring state of Ogun on February 25, 2020. That is, the company where he worked in Ogun state. No one suspected him until he began to develop a serious fever and body aches on the afternoon of February 26, 2020. The company Health workers then contacted bio-security authority who transferred him to a containment facility in Yaba, Lagos state The infection was confirmed on February 27, 2020 by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control were contacted, the man was quarantine under closer monitoring and responded to treatment.

As part of the commitment by the Nigerian Government, the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Health made it officially known to Nigerian about the reality of the virus. It is against this development that we have taken into consideration to measure the effect and the level of awareness programme by NTA especially in the Niger Delta region which had not yet record any case of this virus during the period under study according to the best of researchers’ knowledge. Television is a powerful medium for appealing to mass audience. It reaches people regardless of ages, sex, income or educational level. In addition television offers sight and sound, and it make dramatic and life like representation of people, event and product. Considering the Niger Delta being the economic bench of the country it becomes imperative for NTA to strengthen the awareness effort on the region so as to preserve life and continuous activities on the oil rich region for economic growth.

Control and prevention strategies

COVID-19 is clearly a serious disease of international concern. By some estimates it has a higher reproductive number than SARS, and more people have been reported to have been infected or died from it than SARS. Similar to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, disrupting the chain of transmission is considered key to stopping the spread of disease. Different strategies should be implemented in health care settings and at the local and global levels.

To prevent further spread of the virus, civil societies, and government agencies-initiated awareness programs for promotions of several preventive measures. Body temperature screening was conducted at airports and those returning from countries with a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 were advised to self-isolate. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control in collaboration with State governments also initiated tracing and tracking of victims and their contacts. On 18th March 2020, the Nigerian government prohibited all gatherings of fifty people or above for four weeks and ordered a stay-at-home (Ewodage, 2020). Similarly, the Nigerian government, on 30th March 2020 introduced various containment plan such as the closing of the national borders and airspace, schools, worship centers, and other public places, canceling of public gathering events, the complete lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states for fourteen days initially (Radio Nigeria, 2020).Body temperature screening was conducted at airports and those returning from countries with a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 were advised to self-isolate.

Some stipulated COVID 19 preventive measures are listed as follows:

1. Social distance
2. Self-isolation
3. Washing of hands with detergent or use of alcohol based sanitizers
4. Putting on a face mask in public places

Methods of preventing the onset and spread of the virus include strengthening health publicity and education; maintaining environmental health; keeping good personal hygiene; drinking boiled water; avoiding raw food consumption; frequent hand washing; avoidance of touch (especially around the eyes, ears and mouth); disinfecting surfaces of objects in households, toilets, public places, vehicles; disinfecting the excreta and environment of patients in medical facilities to prevent water and food contamination.

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRISE

Small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) are businesses that maintain revenues, assets or a number of employees below a certain threshold.They outnumber large firms considerably, employ vast numbers of people and are generally entrepreneurial in nature, helping to shape innovation(Investopedia)

The notion of small and medium enterprises (SME) was introduced into the development landscape as early as the late 1940s, and the primary aim was to improve trade and industrialization in the present developed nations. (OECD, 2004). The definitions of SME are usually derived in each country, based on the role of SME in the economy, policies and programs designed by particular agencies or institutions empowered to develop SME. For instance, a small business in the developed economies of countries like Japan, Germany and United States of America (USA), may be a medium or large-scaled business in a developing economy like Nigeria.

Moreover, the definition of SME also varies overtime from agencies or developing institutions to another, depending on their policy focus. The above variation notwithstanding, SME can be defined based on certain criteria including, turnover, number of employees, profit, capital employed, available finance, market share and relative size within the industry. The definition can be based on either some quantitative or qualitative variables. Quantitative definitions mainly express the size of enterprises, mainly in monetary terms such as turnover, asset value, profit, as well as quantitative index like number of employees. As examples, the 1975 companies Act in the United Kingdom stated that an enterprise with a turnover of less than £ 1.4 million was small, those with turnover between £1.4 and £5.7million were medium, while those enterprises having turnover above £5.7 million were large. It also went further to classify the enterprises based on number of employees – those with fewer than 50 workers being small, between 50 and 250 workers being medium and those employing above 250 workers were described as being large. Similarly, the European Union (EU) in 1995, defined SME as any enterprise employing less than 250 employees, and went further to break down the SME into micro (less than 10 employees, small (from 10 to 49 employees) and medium (between 50 to 249 employees). The Central Bank of Nigeria, in its 2005 guideline on Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (SMEIS), described SME as any enterprise with a maximum asset base of 200million naira ( excluding land and working capital) with no lower or upper limit of staff. Using quantitative indices alone to define SMEs have proven unsatisfactory in many respects. This is because such indices are characterised by periodic alterations due to inflation and thus can sometimes be misleading.

Noteworthy is the point that the CBN’s definition of SME above may not accommodate many small businesses in Nigeria, which may be known as micro-enterprises. Also misleading is the fact that some enterprise may be labour intensive and so may be large in terms of number of workers employed, while on the other hand, a capital intensive firm may be large in terms of asset base but have fewer employees. And since all i.e. both small and big firms may incur losses, profit is therefore not a preferred yard stick for categorizing small and medium enterprises. For the above limitation of quantitative definitions, a qualitative definition based on pre-determined characteristics of SME is needful, although not considered in the scope of this work.

The SME sector comprises very different types of businesses across a wide range of economic sectors. There are essentially two categories: those that are growth-oriented, and those small and micro enterprises that operate at the subsistence level to provide employment and income mainly for their owners and a relatively small number of external employees. Subsistence enterprises represent the vast majority of SMEs in developing countries. On the other hand, the growth-oriented type are innovative type of businesses which usually operate in growing markets, as well as businesses that are efficiency-oriented and/or network-intensive, which tend to grow through acquisitions.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SMES

SMEs are the major drivers in developing an economy by generating employment opportunities all over the world (Elimam, 2017). The role of SMEs in any national economy cannot be overemphasized (Muritala, Awolaja, and Bako, 2015). SMEs are important to the development of the local economy, especially in job creation, economic growth, and poverty alleviation. SMEs drive the economic development of a county (Obi, Ididunmi, Tolulope, Olokundun, Amaihian, Borishade and Fred, 2018). SMEs are considered the backbone of any economy (Yoshino and Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2019), SMEs contribute immensely to the growth of a country’s GDP, generation of employment and improvement in the standard of living (Abudul, 2018). According to Ifekwem and Adedamola (2016), SMEs contribute the following to the Nigerian economy: mobilization of local resources, employment opportunities, equitable distribution of income, services of raw material, mitigation of rural-urban drift, generation and conservation of foreign exchange, and distribution of industries. Despite the multiple challenges confronting SMEs, they contribute immensely to the economic development of Nigeria. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are engines of social, economic transformation globally. SMEs contributed 49.78percent to Nigeria's Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and the sector had 41,543,028 businesses in 2017. According to the MSMEs report (2017), SMEs have contributed seriously to the creation of wealth and the improved socio-economic conditions of Nigeria's citizens. Lagos state has the highest number of SMEs in Nigeria. MSME sector employed 59,647,954 persons, including owners, as of December 2017.

The Effect of the COVID-19 on SMEs

The few studies show that the last millennium's major historical pandemics have typically been associated with subsequent low returns as assets (Jorda, Singh and Taylor, 2020). SMEs have a lack of financial resources as the biggest challenge to short and long term recovery in the Covid19 situation (Cumbie, 2017). Bartik, Bertrand, Cullen, Gbeser, Luca, and Stanton (2020), conducted a survey of more than 580 SMEs, between March 28 and April 4, 2020. The result revealed that there were mass layoffs, closure of business, different beliefs about the likely duration of the COVID related disruptions, many businesses are financially on the brink, and most businesses planned to seek funding. COVID 19 has caused a significant economic shock (Seth, Ganaie, and Zafar 2020). Drop-in oil prices, Naira under severe pressure to Dollar current official rate, rising inflation, significant job losses. In March 2020, the ILO estimated that the impact of COVID-19 would result in a rise in global unemployment of between 5.3m (low scenario) and 24.7m (high scenario) ILO, 2020). Another impact of COVID-19 is the continuous protection of workers' health and safety and reducing workers' exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace. (KPMG, 2020). A characteristic of the Pandemic has been the switch from face to face to digital connection for schooling, higher education, business meetings, health consultations, shopping, and cultural events (Phillipson et al., 2020).) The consequence of Covid-19 on the economy and financial markets in Nigeria: economic lockdown of major cities (Abuja, Lagos, and Ogun State) on March 30, 2020, leading to economic loss especially for daily.

LEVEL OF COMPLIANCE AMONG SMEs

Compliance with COVID-19 preventive measure is a double edge sword cutting through the fabric of the everyday life of the Nigerian citizen and in the business environment entirely.To prevent further spread of the virus, civil societies, and government agencies-initiated awareness programs for promotions of several preventive measures. Small and Mid scale businesses are made to ensured that they stick to the preventive measures at stipulated by NCDC which they have strategically ensure that businesses comply and strictly adhere to the covid-19 safety guidelines. These include the following:

• Social distancing

Social distancing otherwise known as physical distancing works if the objective is to prevent the spread of the virus causing the coronavirus disease. Social distancing, also known as “physical distancing,” entails keeping space of at least 6 feet between yourself and other people outside of your home.

The principles of social distancing or physical distancing are;

1. Keep at least 6 feet (about 2 arms’ length) from other people.
2. stay away from crowded events or places and avoid mass gatherings.

Among all COVID-19 preventive measures, maintaining social distancing among ourselves is among the best tools we have to avoid being exposed to this virus and curbing the spread of the virus in our community. (CDC, 2020).These safety guidlines was complied to by universities by ensuring they reduce class size and adjusting to seating position during lectures.

• Washing of Hands with Detergents or Sanitizing Hands Using Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers:

Another covid-19 safety guidelines that has been adhered to strictly by tertiary institutions after resumption was the hand washing culture. In university of ilorin, handwashing outlets was fixed at the entrance of the school gate and each lecture hall(Adeogun 2021) With many viruses, including corona virus, the virus is a self assembled nano-particle in which the most vulnerable structure is the outer lipid bilayer. Detergents dissolve the lipid membrane of microorganisms; virus inclusive. The virus's outer layer breaks apart thus inactivating it. Detergents are also alkaline substances that dissolve particles like dirt, bacteria, and viruses. These dissolved articles are washed off from the surface of the skin when the detergent is rinsed off while washing our hands., The alkalinity of the detergent (pH approximately 9-10), compared with the normal alkalinity of outer skin witha pH of 5.5 or lower, also can affect the skin barrier as well as the resident skin micro flora. In a study, it was found that an acid skin pH (4-4.5) keeps the resident bacterial flora attached to the skin, whereas an alkaline pH (8-9) promotes the dispersal from the skin in assessments of the volar forearm. (Lambers, Piessens, Bloem, Pronk, & Finkel, 2006). Considering the effectiveness of hand washing against the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency of hand washing has been shown to have a limiting impact on influenza-like illness. A study of 2,082 observations, participants who spent only 5-10 seconds washing their hands with soap were more likely to contract influenza-like illness (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.75), compared to participants who washed their hands for 15 seconds or more. Hand washing with detergents was found to be an independent protective factor against frequent influenza-like illnesses like coronavirus disease (Abdulrahman, et al., 2019). Alcohol throughout history has been used as a disinfectant, it is recommended for disinfecting the hands since the late 1800s. Some alcohol-based hand sanitizers contain isopropanol, ethanol, N-propanol, or a combination of both. The antimicrobial ability of alcohol can be attributed to its ability to breakdown and coagulate proteins, thus lysing microorganism’s cell membranes and terminating their cellular metabolism (Toney-Butler & Carver, 2020) (McDonnell & Russell, 1999). Alcohol solutions within the range of about 60% to 95% alcohol prove to be more effective against the viruses. Notably, alcohol with concentrations lower than 60 percent and higher than 90 percent appear to be less potent because of the presence of less water in the later, and proteins are not broken down easily in the absence of water (Wesley & Talakoub, 2020).

• Putting on Face Mask in Public Places and within the school environment:

Putting on face mask is another safety guideline adhered to by Nigerai institution. This is practically prevalent seen when security personnels are mounted at the entrance of the school gate and lecture halls; ensuring that no student enters the school environment without putting on a face mask (Arit 2021). The report from a multidisciplinary group convened by the Royal Society called Delve (Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics) has considered the evidence and concluded in favor of public use of face masks, including homemade cloth coverings to tackle Covid-19. Analysis suggests that this could reduce onward transmission by persons who have the disease but are not showing any symptoms or pre-symptomatic persons. if widely used in situations where physical distancing is not possible or predictable, it is worth noting that the use of face masks, including homemade cloth masks, can to a great extent contribute to reduction of the viral transmission (Davis, 2020)

For most employers, protecting workers will depend on emphasizing basic infection prevention measures. As appropriate, all employers should implement good hygiene and infection control practices, including:

• Promote frequent and thorough hand washing, including by providing workers, customers, and worksite visitors with a place to wash their hands. If soap and running water are not immediately available, provide alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60% alcohol.
• Encourage workers to stay home if they are sick.
• Encourage respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes.
• Provide customers and the public with tissues and trash receptacles.
• Employers should explore whether they can establish policies and practices, such as flexible worksites (e.g., telecommuting) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts), to increase the physical distance among employees and between employees and others if state and local health authorities recommend the use of social distancing strategies.
• Discourage workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment, when possible.
• Maintain regular housekeeping practices, including routine cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces, equipment, and other elements of the work environment. When choosing cleaning chemicals, employers should consult information on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved disinfectant labels with claims against emerging viral pathogens. Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are expected to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 based on data for harder to kill viruses. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use of all cleaning and disinfection products (e.g., concentration, application method and contact time, PPE).

However the compliance level among SMEs in Nigeria especially Kilimajaro Eatery and Pick n Payless in Portharcourt has been shown in relative ways such as:

• Ensuring that there is a hand washing basin at the entrance of the stores with a security man mounted to ensure customers and staffs wash their hands before entering their business outlet.
• Fixing of Automated Hand Sanitizer dispenser at the entrance of their stores so as to enable customers sanitize their hands before entering for patronage.
• Fixing of a “no face mask no entry” sign at the show glass of their business environment which raises the consciousness of the customers on the need to wear their face mask as preventive measure of the novel disease.

2.2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Craighead, Ketchen, and Darby (2020) come up with theories that can assist managers and scholars in having a fresh look at understanding supply chain phenomena to help supply chain managers better prepare for the Next Pandemic. The theories discussed include real options theory, events systems theory, resource dependency theory, prospect theory, tournament theory, institutional theory, structural inertia, resources or orchestrated theory, game theory, and institutional theory. The two discussed in this research are prospect theory and game theory.

Prospect theory

Prospect theory is based on decision making during uncertainty (Tversky and Khneman, 1986). This makes this theory suitable for situations like pandemics. Actors' decisions are premised on how a problem is framed. It is better to describe a situation in positive terms than negative terms, which will make riskier choices (Craighead, and Ketchen, Darby, 2020). Sensational or inflammatory coverage of Covid-19 news by the media increases negativity and potential risks. Though in some countries, the press plays down potential risks (Radu, 2020). Prospect theory helps to predict how a manager will react under a pandemic situation.

In line with this study, it expected that business owners especially that of SMEs put in place facilities that will aid the compliance of their staffs and customers during this pandemic season. Despite the challenges of seeking profit and strategies of bouncing back to their feet, they should place important on maximum compliance to Covid-19 safety guidelines by both their staffs and customers.

Game theory

The objective of Games theory is to predict, using a set of rules the way actors will react while interacting with themselves (VonNeumann and Morgestern, 1944).

Games theory assumes selfish choices are made during one-time interaction. In contrast, repeated interactions among actors will lead to cooperation, knowing fully well that selfish act will lead to future retaliation (Bo, 2005). Games theory has been applied to the adoption of new technology (Zhu and Weyant, 2003), decisions on distribution channels (Xia, Xiao, and Zhnag, 2017) and production quantities and optimal pricing (Cao and Fang, 2013). Based on the assumptions of Game theory, firms with the objectives of competing are likely to cooperate during Pandemic because of the implication of the high cost of defection (Craighead Ketchen and Darby, 2020).

2.3 Summary Of Literature

The novel Corona Virus has been described by WHO as an infectious disease. The above reviewed literature explained its classification origin, clinical manifestations,symptoms and preventive strategies.To prevent further spread of the virus, civil societies, and government agencies-initiated awareness programs for promotions of several preventive measures.However these guidelines is necessary to be practised across all sectors of Nigeria which include Small and Mid-scale Enterprise. Prospect theory and games theory was used for the study which reveals what and how business owners respond to crises.However the study revealed that Small and Medium Scale business especially grocery stores and eateries have done their best to a large extent by both staffs and student in their compliance level to curb the spread of the the novel Corona-Virus.