Nigeria, One of Least Safe Countries in the World

• Gallup Poll ranks country 116th out of 142 nations Libya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, CAR, Niger safer than Nigeria

Bayo Akinloye

Nigeria has been ranked one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and more unsafe than war-torn Libya, according to the 2018 Global Law and Order Report by the Gallup Poll.

In the latest annual ranking of the safest and least safe countries by Gallup, which was made available to THISDAY, Nigeria placed 116th out of 142 countries, with the index score of 66, which is lower than the global average score of 81. Nigeria ranked below African countries like Egypt (with index score of 88 and sixth joint safest country in the world with Denmark, Slovenia and China), Rwanda (83), Mauritius (82), Morocco (81), Ethiopia (79), Tanzania (77), Niger (74), Zimbabwe (73), Burkina Faso (73), Kenya (70), and Togo (69) in the law and order log.

It also placed lower than violence-ridden Libya, which had 67 index score, the Central African Republic (68), and Algeria (79).

The Gallup Law and Order Index is a composite score based on people’s reported confidence in their local police, their feelings of personal safety, and the incidence of theft and assault or mugging in the past year. The higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling secure.

The report noted, “The countries scoring the best (Singapore) and the worst (Venezuela) on the index remained unchanged from 2016. Scores worldwide ranged from a high of 97 in Singapore to a low of 44 in Venezuela. While Venezuela earned the ‘least secure’ title alone in 2016, in 2017, it shared that designation with war-torn Afghanistan – where the score of 45 hit a record low.”

According to the report, four questions were used to gauge people’s sense of personal security and their personal experiences with crime and law enforcement. The questions were: “In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force?”; “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?”; “Within the last 12 months, have you had money or property stolen from you or another household member?”; and “Within the past 12 months, have you been assaulted or mugged?”

The new global poll by the research-based organisation said, “The 2018 Global Law and Order report presents the results from Gallup’s latest measurements of people’s answers to these questions based on more than 148,000 interviews with adults in 142 countries and areas in 2017.”

Elaborating on its methodology, the United States-based organisation said it compiled the “positive” responses to the four questions into a law and order index score for each country.

It added, “The higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling safe. The index score for the world in 2017 was 81 out of a possible 100. Eighty-six countries posted scores lower than this average.”

Few days ago, Nigeria was ranked alongside DR Congo, South Sudan, CAR, Burundi, Ethiopia, Palestine, Myanmar, Yemen, and Venezuela among the top 10 countries in the “Neglected Global Crises List” by the humanitarian organisation, the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“Sadly, the reality is that people affected by crises that are neglected by the public, the media and the politicians, end up receiving less humanitarian relief. The list should serve as a reminder, both for us as humanitarian organisations, for the media and for politicians,” the NRC Secretary General, Jan Egeland, said in a statement made available to THISDAY by the organisation’s spokesperson, Tiril Skarstein.