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LATEST: Nigerian Passport Falls By 38 Places In Global Ranking

by Victor Ndubuisi
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In a ranking of all passports over the past 17 years, the Nigerian passport has dropped 38 positions.

According to Newsmen’s compilation of Henley Passport Index data from 2006 to 2022,

The Henley Passport Index assigns a score to each passport based on how many countries its owners can enter without a visa or through a program that grants them one upon arrival.

Nigerian passport holders now have access to 11 more countries, although their ranking dropped from 62 to 100 between 2006 and 2022.

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This demonstrates a consistent weakening across the 199 countries and 227 tourism destinations examined.

Despite the fact that Nigerians can now travel to 46 countries without a visa or one on arrival, up from the previous total of 35 in 2006, the green passport still prevents them from entering more than 181 other countries.

Travelers with Nigerian passports will only be able to enter 25 nations without a visa as of September 2022.

However, when visa-on-arrival or e-visa programs are included, the total increases to at least 46 locations.

At the time of writing, the following nations allowed Nigerians entry without a visa, with a visa issued at the airport, or with an electronic visa: Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Cabo Verde, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Maur

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Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Timor-Leste, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Fiji, Micronesia, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu are some additional nations.

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A decline or gain in ranking, according to the Henley Passport Index, which is based on information from the International Air Transport Association, is the result of a number of variables.

They include the nation’s efforts to improve border security, modernize its visa application procedures, and strengthen diplomatic ties with neighboring countries.

Experts said, however, that the green document’s strength simply reflected Nigeria’s internal problems.

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Charles Onunaiju, Research Director at the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, made the claim that Nigerians’ paltry access to countries without a visa symbolizes the internal problems the nation is going through under the current administration in an earlier conversation with our reporter.

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He said, “We have a challenge. Since Nigeria is becoming inhospitable, especially for young people with no opportunities, there is desperation to go abroad.

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“Almost all embassies are now enforcing regulations on Nigerians they don’t impose on other nationals. That is very clear. People feel that almost every Nigerian wants to leave here. That’s partly true because the nation has mishandled the potential in it. Our leaders have not harnessed the vast human resources available to us.

“If we want to earn respect from outside, we must begin from home. If we want the world to take us seriously, we must get your acts together.”

“While we appreciate the work done by Henley & Partners, we are more concerned with deepening our passport technology to meet up with the standards of the ICAO; ensuring that our passport complies with ICAO guidelines.”

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Okpu claimed that Nigeria holds a respectable standing in the comity of countries because it has been a public Key Directory of the ICAO since April 2009.

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A central location for transferring the data needed to authenticate electronic Machine-Readable Travel Documents including e-Passports, electronic ID cards, and Visible Digital Seals is the Public Key Directory.

Asserting the NIS’ position, Okpu said, “What we put more emphasis on here is our standing in the ICAO. When ICAO alerts us of any lapses with our passports, we get to work. Nigeria has been part of the Public Key Directory since 2009 and it took us complying with several passport security specifications to be reflected on that directory.

 

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