Lagos is third worst city to live in – The Economist

19/08/2016 8:47

Latest report by The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Lagos as the third worst city to live, maintaining its position at the lowest ebb of the Global Liveability index.

In the report released yesterday, Lagos placed 138th out of the 140 cities ranked in the latest liveability survey, just ahead of Tripoli and Damascus.

“Of the poorer-scoring cities, 13 continue to occupy the very bottom tier of liveability, where ratings fall below 50 percent and most aspects of living are severely restricted.

“Continued threats from groups like Boko Haram acts as a constraint to improving stability in Lagos,” the report stated.

Hostilities in Libya prompted a sharp decline in liveability in Tripoli, according to the report, while Damascus, although seeing a stabilisation in its decline, remained rooted to the bottom.

The top five best countries to live in, according to the report, remain unchanged from last year and they include Melbourne, Australian; Vienna, Austria; Vancouver, Canada; Toronto, Canada; and Calgary, Canada.

The liveability survey assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions across five broad categories, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Lagos scored highest in culture and environment, followed by infrastructure. It scored lowest in stability.

Three other African cities joined Lagos at the bottom rung of the liveable cities, including Douala, Cameroon; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Algiers, Algeria; ranking 132nd, 133rd, and 134th respectively.

In a recent interview with DAILY POST, Outgone Canada High Commissioner to Nigeria, Perry John Calderwood, while answering a question on what Nigeria and African countries must do to get good ratings in human development index said attention must be placed on standard of education, standard of healthcare, level of security, environmental issues like level of pollution, income levels, transport system and others.

“As a Canadian I am pleased obviously that Canada scores very well in that. We were at the top some years back. In the last few years, we have also been at the third or fourth.

“But those results reflect a whole range of things that are taking place in the society. But the most essential one is governance. How is the country governed? is the rule of law respected? Are the right policies in place that are conducive to the development of economic growth? Are citizens engaged in the political process? Is there a low tolerance for corruption, its these package of things…so you must get governance right.

“In my experience, if you look at some countries around the world, you’ll see there are some countries that have almost no natural resources at all, yet they are the richest. Think of Singapore, South Korea, don’t have great natural resources, Hong Kong, Switzerland. But there are also countries like Canada and Australia that have vast resources and also among the richest and the best of.

“But there are some with great resources but are not the richest and best of countries in the world. So what I’m trying to say is: at the end of the day, its not really about resources, its about right leaders, right governance, right policies in effect. Another thing that is important is education. African countries must give priority to investing in education.”