Despite ongoing reforms of the Nigeria travel document by the Federal Government, the country is ranked lowest in a new global ranking of the world’s most powerful passports.

The report released this week by Henley & Partners indicated that Nigeria occupied 10th position alongside Sudan, Lebanon, and Iran in the list of countries with the world’s least powerful passports.

Other countries in this category are Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Palestinian Territory, Nepal, Libya, North Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Eritrea respectively.

A handful of European and Asian countries, however, dominated the new global ranking of the world’s most powerful passports, with citizens of those nations able to travel most freely throughout the world.

The list, released this week by Henley & Partners, highlighted the growing divide between the travel privileges that people from different countries enjoy — sometimes referred to as “passport privilege.”

Christian Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners, said in a statement that despite a general trend towards more travel freedoms in the last 19 years, the mobility gap between the countries at the top and bottom is “now wider than ever”.

“Since 2006, the average number of destinations travellers can access without needing a visa has nearly doubled, Kaelin said.

The report, however, indicated that the top-ranked passports could access 194 countries visa-free — 166 more than the lowest-ranked passport, from Afghanistan, which gets access to only 28.

The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association.

While countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Singapore came first in the list of 10 most powerful passports, Finland, South Korea, and Sweden were ranked second, with Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and Netherlands occupying third place.

Other countries including Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, came fourth, Greece, Malta, and Switzerland fifth while Australia, Czechia, New Zealand, and Poland were ranked sixth, Canada, Hungary, and the United States seventh, Estonia and Lithuania eighth, Latvia, Slovakia, and Slovenia ninth with Iceland coming 10th in the 10 most powerful passports. (Nigerian Tribune)

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