| Summary: | ABSTRAСTWhile the coronavirus was a global health crisis, it also generated enormous socio-economic challenges such as trading, buying and selling, socio-economic meltdown, health sector breakdown, poor housing facilities, poverty, unemployment, low income, inequality, and epileptic power supply, amongst others, in developing countries like Nigeria. This paper interrogates the political economy of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on socio-economic development in Nigeria from 2019–2022. The paper relied on qualitative methods using documentary research methods (analysis of secondary data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NCDC report, the World Bank/IMF post-COVID-19 report, ECOWAS, the AU, WHO reports, and reputable journals). Findings revealed, among others, that Nigeria, being a revenue economy, suffered greatly from COVID-19 because it affected the economy’s development, diaspora remittance, and the health status of the nation due to the fall in oil prices, the shutdown of businesses, and the inflation of goods and services. On the positive side, the coronavirus-induced public health crisis provided a chance for many state governments to implement long-term public health reforms. The paper recommends, among other things, that the government intensify tremendous efforts to get support for strengthening production in the manufacturing industries as a way of implementing a post-COVID-19 economic recovery strategy. The Federal and State governments of Nigeria (ministry of health, budget and planning, EFCC/ICPC, and the National Assembly) need a paradigm shift from traditionalism (corruption and embesslement of public funds) to modernity (technologically driven society, accountability, transparency, investment in human capital development, diversification of the economy, investment in the health sector, and advancement in technology in tertiary institutions).
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