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A report ranking Lagos second on the world’s least liveable cities might have surprised many Nigerians, but some foreigners resident in the country say their experiences living in Nigeria have made the Economist Intelligence Unit assessment a bitter pill to swallow,Punch report.
The report ranks Nigeria behind Damascus at number one while Tripoli (Libya), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) rank third, fourth and fifth respectively.
With Melbourne (Australia) as the most liveable city, a position the country has occupied for the seventh year running, the annual report assesses the cities based on five broad categories: stability; health care; culture and environment; education and infrastructure.
In 2015 and 2016, Lagos, which lays claim to being a mega city in Nigeria, was rated third on the list of the world’s least liveable cities but slipped one place in the 2017 report.
However, some members of the Lagos’ large expatriate community told our correspondent that having seen other countries far worse than Nigeria, such reports were not reflective of the city and Nigeria they had lived in.
One of such people is 77-year-old Mrs. Irmgard Williams, who has lived in Nigeria for more than 50 years.
Married to a Nigerian, she said she had seen both the good and bad sides of the country she now calls home.
For her, the report is disheartening.
She told Saturday PUNCH,
She believes it is the people that make a place good to live in.
According to him, Nigeria has come a long way but that a city like Lagos cannot be the second worst in the world by a long shot.
The Economist Intelligence Unit said in the Global Liveability Report, that in the past few years, there has been increasing instability across the world, which causes volatility in the scores of many cities.
The cities whose ranking improved are said to be those in countries that have enjoyed periods of relative stability.
But the EIU cites “continued threat from groups such as Boko Haram acts as a constraint to improving stability in Lagos.”
Lagos is at least 1,190 kilometres away from northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram’s base and the theatre of the war against insurgency in Nigeria.
However, the city has met with a lot of accusations as it pertains to protection of vulnerable people. For instance, over the last one year, demolitions in the city’s slums have led to court battles in which those rendered homeless challenged the government actions.
Director of the Justice Empowerment Initiatives, Megan Chapman, who champions the cause of rural dwellers and those rendered homeless in such slums in Lagos, is another foreigner, who gave an opinion over the EIU’s ranking.
She told Saturday PUNCH that even though she understood what informed the poor rating, the good of living in Nigeria outweighed the bad.
Chapman said,
Another foreign resident of Nigeria, who also shared an opinion on this issue is the Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Dallas Peavey, who said he had been in Nigeria for about two and half years.
Peavey believes Nigeria is one of the best places in Africa to live in .
He said,
The official said she would consult the Managing Director of the organisation, Oge Modie, before making a comment on the EIU’s report, but had yet to get back to our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.
The report ranks Nigeria behind Damascus at number one while Tripoli (Libya), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) rank third, fourth and fifth respectively.
With Melbourne (Australia) as the most liveable city, a position the country has occupied for the seventh year running, the annual report assesses the cities based on five broad categories: stability; health care; culture and environment; education and infrastructure.
In 2015 and 2016, Lagos, which lays claim to being a mega city in Nigeria, was rated third on the list of the world’s least liveable cities but slipped one place in the 2017 report.
However, some members of the Lagos’ large expatriate community told our correspondent that having seen other countries far worse than Nigeria, such reports were not reflective of the city and Nigeria they had lived in.
One of such people is 77-year-old Mrs. Irmgard Williams, who has lived in Nigeria for more than 50 years.
Married to a Nigerian, she said she had seen both the good and bad sides of the country she now calls home.
For her, the report is disheartening.
She told Saturday PUNCH,
“When I read this report, I almost cried. In Lagos – a place for millions of people – different ethnic groups in Nigeria live here side by side.Williams, a widow, told Saturday PUNCH that the positive sides of Nigerians rarely get a mention in media reports.
“Most nationalities in the world find work and livelihood in this mighty city. All religions under the sun are practised here and tolerated. Then why are we rated so low? Is it only when health care, education, environment and infrastructure are top of the agenda, that a city is good to live in? What of the human aspect?
“True, we still suffer from lack of many social amenities which other cities enjoy like regular water and electricity and health care and education have not yet reached the high standard like in other places.
“But we are working on it. And mind you, even under these poor conditions, we manage our lives, make the best of every situation and overcome our problems. It is true that conflicts, terrorism, violent acts and crime have also knocked at our gates. But that is a worldwide phenomenon right now.”
“I’m a German national and I have lived in Lagos for 52 years. Why? Because I like the people here, their inner strength, their ability to cope, their friendliness and their cheerfulness in spite of all the odds. God bless Lagos and Nigeria.”
She believes it is the people that make a place good to live in.
A Bangladeshi national, Azim Hogue, voiced his assessment of the report on the basis of his 14-year residency in Nigeria, explaining that it was reflective of the negativity that had saturated the news about Nigeria.“In Nigeria, if you give a smile, you get back more smiles. If you give a handshake, then you get a hug,” she said.
“No, I would not say Lagos is the second least liveable city in the world. Lagos is way better than many other places I have been to. I have lived in Nigeria for about 14 years. Between this time, I travel abroad frequently.
“Earlier when I was living here, things had not developed that much. But now, Lagos has gone very far. To be honest, I am from Bangladesh and I know a bit about other cities like Mumbai and even in Bangladesh that are a lot worse than Lagos.
“I travelled sometime ago, when I was coming back to Lagos, people were freaked out because all they hear about Nigeria are Boko Haram, terrorism and corruption because that is all the media talk about.
“You cannot blame people holding such view because they have not been here. It is what they see on the news. Nigerians too tend to believe this is the worst place on earth because that is what they too see on the news.
“In China for instance, there is a lot of smuggling and child trafficking. Mexico too has a lot of terrible places where kidnapping is rife. In Lagos, I can still walk freely on the streets without any fear. This is why I find it hard to believe this sort of report.”
The Economist Intelligence Unit said in the Global Liveability Report, that in the past few years, there has been increasing instability across the world, which causes volatility in the scores of many cities.
The cities whose ranking improved are said to be those in countries that have enjoyed periods of relative stability.
But the EIU cites “continued threat from groups such as Boko Haram acts as a constraint to improving stability in Lagos.”
Lagos is at least 1,190 kilometres away from northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram’s base and the theatre of the war against insurgency in Nigeria.
However, the city has met with a lot of accusations as it pertains to protection of vulnerable people. For instance, over the last one year, demolitions in the city’s slums have led to court battles in which those rendered homeless challenged the government actions.
Director of the Justice Empowerment Initiatives, Megan Chapman, who champions the cause of rural dwellers and those rendered homeless in such slums in Lagos, is another foreigner, who gave an opinion over the EIU’s ranking.
She told Saturday PUNCH that even though she understood what informed the poor rating, the good of living in Nigeria outweighed the bad.
Chapman said,
“I understand that there are a lot of challenges that come with living in Lagos. But are they more extreme than what you see in other cities?
“I think some of the reasons are the large population and lack of some basic amenities like water, electricity, sewage system, sanitation which are more challenges than in many other cities around the world.
“I find it to be liveable and think that the good of living in Lagos far outweighs the bad. But you have to have a particular temperament to survive in Lagos. If you can make it, you will really enjoy living here.”
Another foreign resident of Nigeria, who also shared an opinion on this issue is the Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Dallas Peavey, who said he had been in Nigeria for about two and half years.
Peavey believes Nigeria is one of the best places in Africa to live in .
He said,
“I have been to every major city on the continent. Lagos has every quality that every foreigner would look for. It has the space and is reasonably priced. The people are very courteous by nature and very educated. They are very open to foreigners. My time here has been generally enjoyable and I can assure you I have been to the different parts of the city.Saturday PUNCH reached out to NOIPolls, which has conducted polls on various subjects in Nigeria, but the spokesperson for the service explained that it had not done any work on liveability in Nigeria.
“I would disagree with the report completely because Lagos is one of the safest places because I have been all over the city and I have never had any issue with safety. As far as infrastructure is concerned, it is still a developing nation. Even in the US, there are some of the worst airports in the world there. To say the structure in Nigeria needs work, what country doesn’t?”
The official said she would consult the Managing Director of the organisation, Oge Modie, before making a comment on the EIU’s report, but had yet to get back to our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.
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