The Nigerian passport is ranked 101st out of 199 countries, according to the ranking done by the Henley Passport Index, described as the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports.
The index ranks passports, according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a visa.
A London, United Kingdom-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, Henley and Partners, explained that the index was based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association — the largest, most accurate travel information database.
Japan is number one on the list, followed by Singapore in second place, and South Korea and Germany tied for third. Italy, Finland, Spain and Luxembourg take the fourth position, while Denmark and Austria round out the top five.
The company, on July 6, stated, “With the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics just weeks away, and the country in a ‘quasi’ state of emergency, Japan nonetheless retains its hold on the number one spot on the HPI — which is based on exclusive data from the IATA — with a theoretical visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 193.
“While the dominance of European passports in the top 10 has been a given for most of the index’s 16-year history, the pre-eminence of three Asian states — Japan, Singapore, and South Korea — has become the new normal.
“Singapore remains in second place, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 192, and South Korea continues to share joint-third place with Germany, each with a score of 191.”
Seychelles (28th) leads all African countries on the list, followed by Mauritius (31st), South Africa (57th), Botswana (66th), Namibia (72nd), Lesotho (73rd), Eswatini (75th), Malawi (76th), Kenya and Tanzania (77th), Zambia and Tunisia (78th), The Gambia (80th), Uganda and Cape Verde Islands (81st).
African countries that outperformed Nigeria also included Zimbabwe (83rd), Ghana and Morocco (84th), Sierra Leone and Mozambique (85th), Benin (86th), São Tomé and Príncipe and Rwanda (87th), Mauritania (88th), Burkina Faso (89th), Gabon (90th), and Cote d’Ivoire (91st).
Others were Senegal, Madagascar and Equatorial Guinea (92nd), Togo and Guinea (93rd), Niger, Mali, Comoro Islands and Chad (94th), Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Algeria (95th), Egypt, Burundi and Angola (96th), Liberia and Cameroon (97th), Republic of the Congo (98th), and Djibouti (99th).
Nigeria beat only seven countries on the continent, namely Ethiopia (102nd), South Sudan (103rd), Eritrea and Democratic Republic of the Congo (104th), Sudan (106th), Libya (107th), and Somalia (111th).
