Information Management Capacity and Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Nigerian Public Health Institutions: A Post-COVID-19 Assessment

This study assesses the relationship between information management capacity and pandemic response effectiveness in Nigerian public health institutions, using COVID-19 (2020 to 2022) as the primary empirical context. The pandemic exposed critical information management vulnerabilities in Nigerian health institutions, including surveillance data fragmentation, medical records unavailability, communication system failures, and evidence gap in policy making, all of which compromised response effectiveness. The research employs a retrospective mixed-methods national assessment design. Phase One conducts quantitative analysis of administrative performance data, situational report quality metrics, and response effectiveness indicators from forty Nigerian health institutions (covering federal, state, and LGA levels across all six geopolitical zones). Phase Two conducts sixty-five in-depth interviews with health administrators, records officers, epidemiologists, and WHO Nigeria officials. Phase Three develops a causal model linking specific information management capacity deficits to response effectiveness failures. The Information Capacity Theory, the Pandemic Preparedness Framework, and the Public Health Informatics Model provide the analytical architecture, with literature from 2020 to 2024 on COVID-19 governance in Nigeria supporting the study. An original Information Management Pandemic Preparedness Model (IMPP Model) is developed and validated for future application. Recommendations target the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Ministry of Health, and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. Keywords: information management capacity, pandemic response, COVID-19, public health institutions, Nigeria