By Chinelo Obogo, [email protected]
When Henley and Partners released the 2024 Passport Index ranking report last Thursday, there was a general feeling of sadness among Nigerians as it revealed that the country’s passport ranks 95th in the world and 50th in Africa in terms of strength and relevance.
The Henley Passport Index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations and is the most authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information and is updated quarterly and reflects the current situation of travel restrictions. In the report, Seychelles maintained its lead as the country that holds Africa’s strongest passport because its citizens can either access 156 destinations visa-free or obtain visas on arrival. Seychelles ranks 26th in the world.
Mauritius now has the second-most powerful passport in Africa, as its citizens can access 150 destinations visa-free. Globally, the country’s passport ranks 30th. South Africa and Botswana’s passports rank third and fourth, while Lesotho and Namibia are joint fifth. South Africa 21,, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania are among Africa’s top 10 countries. While the South African passport improved its ranking since last year, when it was ranked fourth in Africa and 56th globally, with a score of 99, Nigeria’s passport ranking has been on a downward slide since 2006. The improvement in South Africa’s ranking is mainly due to the addition of Qatar and Saudi Arabia to the list of visa-free destinations for South Africans.
Banned
On October 21, 2022, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a visa ban on Nigeria and 19 other African countries, owing to an increase in criminal activities perpetrated by these countries’ citizens in the Middle Eastern country. Till date, the ban has not been lifted.
In July 2023, Seychelles followed suit, imposing a ban on Nigerians applying for holidays and short-term visas despite the fact that six months prior, Seychelles and Nigeria had signed an agreement for direct flights between the two countries and Nigerians could enter the country visa-free for up to 30 days. Giving reason for the ban, Seychelles’ Vice President, Ahmed Afif, cited an increase in drug trafficking and fraudulent activities by Nigerians. In 2022, citing security concerns, the Republic of Turkey removed Nigeria from the list of countries whose citizens could obtain e-visas to enter the country.
Aviation expert, Amos Akpan, told Daily Sun that the reason some of the countries that used to allow Nigerians entry without visa have now decided that Nigerians must get visa before they are allowed entry and in some cases, banned from visa issuance, was because these countries are unable to profile Nigerians and has weakened the strength of the passport.
“The concept of passport index ranking has to do with how many countries holders of Nigerian passport are allowed entry without visas. Some countries that used to allow Nigerians entry without visa have now decided that Nigerians must get visa before they are allowed entry. Some have outrightly banned issuance of visas to Nigerians.
“These countries are unable to profile Nigerians; they can’t get accurate verifiable data about Nigerian citizens from our security agencies. It’s increasingly difficult to source referable information that will guide people to tracing, monitoring and interdiction of Nigerians through the security agencies in Nigeria.
“Every country has criminals amongst her citizens, but they don’t arrogantly project them neither do the criminals act entitled to commit crime as a “national culture.” If a citizen of one country has issues in the country hosting him, that citizen’s country of origin should produce accurate and valuable information on the citizen to help profile him. Issues are easily resolved by cross border sharing of information on the subject,” he said.
Ripple effects
Aviation experts are unanimous in the shared belief that these bans have a negative impact on trade and business relations between Nigeria and the related countries. For instance, Akpan said: “Poor passport index ranking affects the travel sector. For example, UAE, South Africa, and Seychelles have either banned or restricted entry of Nigerians. Airlines have had to reduce frequencies or temporarily suspended flights to some destinations because of these visas problems.
“Reports of discriminatory treatment of holders of Nigerian passports at entry ports of most countries have discouraged travel to these countries. This in turn affects the airline’s income through reduced pay load and frequencies, limits no of tourists, and the volume of trade on those routes. The hurdles and hassles to get entry visas from the host countries willing to admit Nigerians is because they have difficulties tracking and controlling large numbers of Nigerians coming into their countries.”
The President of Aviation Round Table (ART), Air Commodore Ademola Onitiju (rtd), told Daily Sun that the rating or the esteem a country’s passport gets could be as a result of the dynamism of its foreign policy and that a country that accords economic diplomacy a pride of place will reap the benefits in leaps and bounds.
“A focused, citizen wellness oriented foreign policy results from a well thought out domestic policy. Good governance promotes economic growth and development attainable throw conducive environment for local and international transactions. Liberal visa or no restrictions could encourage tourism and inflow of foreign capital. Therefore, it behoves the political elites of any given state to design its national interest to accommodate mutually beneficial economic relations with other nations on the international plain. Bilateral Air Services Agreement/ Plurilateral or multilateral version could ease movement of peoples in a reciprocal manner and by extension affects a positive rating of the nation’s passport,” he said.
Another expert, Olumide Ohunayo gave his take to Daily Sun on why Nigeria’s passport ranking is low. He said: “So many things have contributed to it, one is the reciprocity. Are we also open to others? When you are not open to others, they would not open to you. Also, we have done so much damage to the psyche of our youths that everyone now wants to leave the country, even if it is to Cotonou. In other climes, what you see is that it is the educated ones that wants to go out but here, once you clock the age of 19 or 20, the next thing is that you would want to travel out. We need to work on our country, restore security and restore the spending power of Nigerians. When people want to come into your country see that people are leaving in droves, they wouldn’t be encouraged to come. This issue would definitely affect travel and connectivity. The poor exchange rate is very turbulent and you cannot plan with it, which is a problem on its own. Also, we are yet to run the passport system effectively.”
Way forward
Akpan advised the government to continue registering citizens and aim to have all Nigerians on local – state – national record. He said citizens’ data should be domiciled in local communities and be accessible by all government agencies. Records must exist in communities by birth and residence of each citizen; and this record should be more relevant than state of origin. Capacity to locate and track citizens should be critical success factors in keeping records/identity of citizens.
“The international community would have confidence in our ability to share accurate information about our citizens. Traceability is vital to accountability. You trust and accept what you are sure works to solve your problem.
A government that cannot account for her citizens should not expect other countries to admit her people when they cannot have their information when necessary.
“There are more Nigerians of value to this world than the internet fraudsters and drug peddlers. Nigerians are adding value to most countries in this world. We need our home country’s system working to the quality that is in tandem with the world’s standard. We must not necessarily lose our identity but distill who we are to acceptable standards,” Akpan said.
Ohunayo said the government has to work on improving the economy and the security situation in the country which would in turn have a ripple effect on the strength of the passport.
“The economy and security are important to travel. It can’t work in isolation. You have to develop your economy and ensure security first before you start developing other components of travel like airlines, hotels etc. The rate of kidnapping, banditry will discourage tourism. We need to work on our security and ensure that if people come in, they would be safe. We also have to work on our exchange rate and ensure that it is stable.
“We should start by stimulating travel within and the only way that we can do that is to ensure that everyone is safe while traveling through all modes of transportation. We must also stimulate those in the diaspora to come back home. It is when people see that those in the diaspora are coming back home that they would also be encouraged to return. It is not about going to advertise on CNN,” he said.