Abstract

The Federal Government of Nigeria announced the total closure of all educational institutions nationwide, following the declaration of the novel COVID-19 as a Pandemic. As a follow up, the Sokoto State government directed that all tertiary institutions in the state should immediately closed. The suspension of academic activities during the school lockdown brought by the COVID-19 crisis in academic communities. Educators explored some learning strategies that could better engage students while maintaining social distancing. It is noteworthy that prior to the period of the Pandemic, some tertiary institutions in Nigeria only adopted online in their Distance Education Programmes. Therefore, this sudden migration to online learning in their regular programmes came with shock and several problems, and so does not go down well with the undergraduate programmes. The reactions of some students and teachers on this sudden shift to online learning as an alternative mode of instruction were mixed. How ready are the students to function in this new learning environment ? This paper provides information on COVID- 19 in tertiary institutions in Sokoto State. This paper will cover prospects and problems and adopting online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 period in sokoto State, Nigeria. The paper will adopt survey of relevant literature. The paper will be found useful for higher education administrators, lecturers, students and parents who may wish to incorporate some of the suggestions provided here to improve their online instructional programmes.