Nigeria ranked 16th least peaceful country in the world in Global Peace Index

Nigeria has been ranked the 16th least peaceful country in the world, according to the 2018 edition of Global Peace Index, GPI. The report, released yesterday, ranked Nigeria 148 out of the total 163 countries surveyed.

Iceland is the most peaceful country, closely followed by New Zealand and Austria while Syria is ranked least peaceful, coming after Afghanistan and South Sudan respectively.

In Sub-Sahara Africa, Nigeria is ranked 40 out of 44 countries, with Mauritius topping the list, while South Sudan is ranked least. According to the report produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, IEP, global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27 percent in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deterioration. 

It also said the world is “less peaceful today than at any time in the last decade.” It added that 92 countries deteriorated, while only 71 improved. Nigeria is one of such countries, up one place from its 2017 ranking of 149. In 2016, Nigeria was pegged at 149, while the figure was 151 for both 2015 and 2014. 

The report said the global economic impact of violence was $14.76 trillion PPP in 2017, equivalent to 12.4 percent of global GDP, or $1,988 per person. The report covers 99.7 percent of the world’s population and uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from “highly respected sources” to compile the index. 

These indicators are grouped into three key domains: ‘ongoing conflict’, ‘safety and security’, and ‘militarisation.’ All three domains deteriorated over the last year. “There’s been a gradual decline in peacefulness over the last decade,” said Steve Killelea, head of IEP. “The reason for this slow, gradual decline in peacefulness really comes back to the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, and the spillover effects into other areas.”

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China to invest $300m in mass housing in Nigeria

As part of measures to bridge the rising accommodation and shelter gaps in the country, Chinese investors have said they are investing a whopping $300m in mass housing schemes for low and middle income earners across the country.

The Assistant of Director, Director of the One Belt One Road Financing Operation in China, Mr Steven Kim, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja at the operational briefing of the ZVECAN Homes and Estate of the ZVECAN consulting and Engineering Limited.

This is as the Managing Director, Zvecan Homes and Estate, Mr Nicholas Ogbedo, said that over 5,000 civil servants, who are the initial off-takers and completing their documentaries with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB), would be the first beneficiaries of the homes to be built on request in one bed-room, two bed-rooms and others bungalows in the allocated locations in the FCT.

The briefing was to update the developer’s inputs for the off-takers in the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) initiated by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, as part of measures to by the Federal Government to provide affordable housing for the Federal Civil Servants before they retire from service.

According to Kim, who spoke through an interpreter, Mr Sylvester Osagie Aigbe, most of the $300m would be spent on local raw materials and technical manpower, while some importations including some raw materials, not readily available in Nigeria, would be imported from China.

“The Chinese Government is reviewing some of its policies in some countries receiving aids and grants, some of the reviews involve direct investment in housing and other critical infrastructural needs. Like we are going to do in Nigeria, partnering indigenous organisations, we have been involved in similar mass housing schemes in Kenya and Angola, where we are building over 3000 units of different specifications of affordable housing,” Kim said.

Speaking earlier, the Managing Director, Zvecan Homes and Estate, Mr Nicholas Ogbedo, said his organisation is working with FISH and other government stakeholders to realize their mandate.

He added that his organisation was involved in the Kenyan and Angola schemes, hence his efforts to get the investors to Nigeria for the benefits of the low and medium civil servants.


Daily Trust