Nigerian passport ranks low in Africa, 91st in world

…as Seychelles, Mauritius, SA lead

WITH A FAL TERING ECONO MY, barely struggling to lift out of a two-year recession, the Nigerian passport has also come under low ranking among countries of the world, coming 42nd in Africa and 91st in a world ranking of passports, according to Henley Passport Index 2019 report.

The world ranking is particularly dominated by Asian countries.

According to the Henley Passport Index, holders of Nigerian passports have visafree access to only 47 destinations.

The Henley Passport Index is an index of all the passports ranked according to the countries that welcome them without a visa. The data used in the ranking are compiled from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The report ranked Nigeria’s passport low as the 42nd most powerful in Africa, ahead of war-ravaged Burundi, Djibouti, Ebola-stressed DRC, Ethiopia, internal conflict distressed Libya and South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea and terof ror network harried Somalia.

“As the world economy has become increasingly globalised, the need for greater visa-free access has grown steadily,” the report said.

Henley & Partners published its 2019 passport index and, once again, the world’s top is dominated by Japan while there is no African country in the world’s top 10.

In Africa, the top 5 countries are dominated by Seychelles (27th global rank), Mauritius (51st global rank), South Africa (53rd global rank), Botswana (82nd global rank) and Namibia (68th global rank).

The continent’s bottom 5 are Ethiopia (96th global rank), Libya and South Sudan (97th global ranks), Sudan (99th global rank), Eritrea (100th global rank) and Somalia (103rd global rank).

Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea, former Spanish colony in central Africa, progressed the most with three places gained in the latest global passport index ranking.

Countries linked to terror networks like Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq were placed at bottom of the pile, indicating that their citizens require visas to access the majority of countries.