Impact of Covid-19 Social Distancing Protocol on the Private Sector Dance Troupes in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The conrmed case of Covid-19 in Lagos State made it the epicentre of the virus in Nigeria. To this end, the federal government adopted public health protocols to curb its spread which included social distancing at the end of March 2020. The response measure of social distancing had grave consequences on the services of the private sector dance troupes in the state. This study adopted the exploratory research design. The population comprised private dance troupes based on a random selection of troupes that could be reached through mobile phones and other social media platforms. The objective of the study was to provide data on the impact of the social distancing measure on dance service providers in Lagos State and to establish the place of dance in the state’s political economy. The findings showed that the Covid-19 social distancing measure impacted negatively on 100% of dance service providers in the private sector during the period under review and that this sector was neglected as a matter of the socio-economic policy of the state. It was recommended that the policy of the government should not be discriminatory against dance operators in the private sector; a policy that addressed the plight of such operators should be formulated; alternatives that leveraged digital technology should be explored to scale up modes of dance presentations that guaranteed job and social security for all times in the sector. The study concluded that the deleterious impact of the measure of social distancing on the dance economy of the private dance troupes of Lagos State could have been mitigated if there was a policy framework that guaranteed culture security which would have benetted both the private dance troupes and Lagos State economy during the first four months of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.