Quite topical is the theme of this essay, at a time when Nigeria and the rest of the world grapple with hydra-headed challenges, occasioned by the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 pandemic has posed grave danger to the global economy, with experts positing that the pandemic has instigated an economic downturn, the likes of which the world has not experienced since the Great Depression of 1929. Precipitated by this health emergency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its April, 2020, World Economic Outlook report titled “The Great Lockdown” projected a sharp contraction in global economy by 3% in 2020, a condition that will dwarf what was recorded during the 2008–09 financial crisis.
Unemployment is sky-rocketing, with millions filing for unemployment claims in the United States of America (more than 22 million since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency for COVID-19). And to further worsen the situation for some countries (Nigeria as an example), the recent crash in oil prices (with OPEC basket which fell from $67.93 as of 19 December, 2019 to $12.41 per barrel as of 28 April , 2020, a decline of about 81.73%), amongst other sad economic realities, have all conspired to paint a grim picture about the future of all sectors of the world economy, to which transportation is critically central.