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So if you are Nigerian and done any travelling or at least intended to travel at some point, you might have needed that green booklet traditionally called a Nigerian passport. The passport of any country is a primary form of identification and to its citizens is usually a source of pride and joy. Recently, social media went buzzing after Mayorkun, a Nigerian artiste, expressed frustration regarding the utility of the Nigerian passport (see below). So, we at Qwenu! decided to do some research to provide evidence supporting or refuting his claim. Our goal was to answer the question: How powerful is the Nigerian passport? Where can it take you to without a visa?

First of all, lets start with this poll:

Poll: Have you ever been denied a visa with your Nigerian passport? Yes 56%, 54 votes 54 votes 56% 54 votes - 56% of all votes

No 44%, 43 votes 43 votes 44% 43 votes - 44% of all votes Total Votes: 97 Voting is closed Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Can’t write one line of the advantages of my ‘Green passport’ as regards traveling outside Africa. Pathetic! — MAYORKUN (@IamMayorKun) May 10, 2018

But Mayorkun didn’t lie about our green passport nau. Why do people read to misunderstand 🤷🏽‍♀️ — Vivian Uzo (@veevyean) May 11, 2018

So how is the power of a country’s passport defined? We chose the common definition which is based on the number of visa-free destinations the passport permits for unrestricted travel. Recently, the Telegraph listed the 25 most powerful passports, I would like you to take a guess which passport came first. I know many of you may think that the United States based on its reputation would probably be number 1, however, I am sorry to disappoint you. See the list below.

The Most Powerful Passports In The World

1. Germany (176 countries can be visited without a visa)

2. Sweden (175 countries can be visited without a visa)

3-7. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain, United States (174 countries can be visited without a visa)

8-15. Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, United Kingdom (173 countries can be visited without a visa)

16-18. Ireland, Japan, New Zealand (172 countries can be visited without a visa)

19-22. Canada, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland (171 countries can be visited without a visa)

23-24. Australia, South Korea (170 countries can be visited without a visa)

25. Iceland (169 countries can be visited without a visa)

As you can see no African country made this list.

Nigeria didn’t do too badly. It ranked 91st with 46 visa-free travel destinations on the Henley Passport Index.

Here are the 46 countries listed on this index that Nigerians can travel to without a visa. Disclaimer, we at Qwenu! did not verify this list.

Bangladesh

Maldives

Timor-Leste

Benin

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Cape Verde Islands

Chad

Comores Islands

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Djibouti

The Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Kenya

Liberia

Madagascar

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mozambique

Niger

Rwanda

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

St. Helena

Tanzania

Togo

Uganda

Barbados

Dominica

Haiti

St. Kitts and Nevis

Iran

Lebanon

Oceania

Cook Islands

Fiji

Micronesia

Niue

Palau Islands

Samoa

Tuvalu

Vanuatu How Does The Nigerian Passport Perform Against Other African Countries? Nigeria vs. Ghana : Well, sorry to disappoint, per the Henley Index, the Ghanaian passport is more powerful than Nigeria’s (it ranked 76th with 62 visa-free travel destinations compared to Nigeria’s 46) Nigeria vs. Cameroon: Close, really close (Cameroon came 92nd with 45 visa-free travel destinations) Nigeria vs. Kenya : Not even close, the Kenyan passport allows travel to 72 visa-free travel destinations ranking it as the 62nd most powerful passport (remember Nigeria was ranked 91st) Nigeria vs. South Africa : South Africa ranked 53rd with 102 visa-free travel destinations Nigeria vs. Egypt : Egypt ranked 87th with 50 visa-free travel destinations Embed from Getty Images So the bottom line is that you almost always need a visa to travel outside Africa with the Nigerian passport, and with the present visa denial rates for Nigerians, it may be understandable why Mayorkun is frustrated. However, let’s look on the bright side, at least our passport is more powerful than some other countries. In addition, Nigeria allows for dual citizenship, so you could be a U.S. or Canadian citizen and still keep your Nigerian passport. This is not the same for other countries. India, for instance, does not allow dual citizenship so when Indians naturalize, they have to give up their Indian passports once they gain citizenship of another country. Our leaders have a lot to do to build diplomatic relationships with other countries which will improve our visa restriction index. We as Nigerian citizens at home and abroad have to improve our reputation around the world if we want to increase the travel power of the Nigerian passport. Share this article by clicking the social media icons above 👆 if you learnt something from reading this post and leave a reply below so we can get your thoughts. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @qwenu_media