A report by Henley & Partners has revealed that the Nigerian passport ranked below those of other African countries such as Malawi, Niger, Chad, Zimbabwe, Uganda and The Gambia. 

This is contained in its Q1 2022 index  reviewing the passports of 199 countries with 227 travel destinations. The rankings are based on global access and mobility.

The Henley Passport Index, published since 2006, placed Nigeria jointly in 98th place with Ethiopia, after Malawi, Niger, Chad, The Gambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.

These rankings place Nigeria as the worst ranking country in West Africa as all the other member countries of ECOWAS rank higher than Nigeria.  

Henley & Partners is a global citizenship and residence advisory firm based in the United Kingdom, which publishes quarterly reports.

A July 2021 report by the body ranked the Nigerian passport 101 out of 199 countries, dropping six places from its 2020 position. Later that year, Nigerian passport integrity fell even lower, per Henley &Partners report.

The rankings are based on data collated from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information

The highest ranking African passport belongs to the Seychelles, having visa-free access to 152 countries. Botswana and Namibia ranked second and third with 86 and 78 countries, respectively.

The United States and the United Kingdom ranked seventh while Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan at the bottom five.