Nigeria makes the list of World’s most dangerous countries in 2022

Sopuruchi Onwuka

With global peace index (GPI) score of 2.72, Nigeria is the of 17^th most dangerous country of world’s nearly 200 nations, explaining the difficulty of the country in attracting floating global investible funds despite her abundant man and material resources.

Although African, Middle Eastern and South American countries dominate the world’s list of dangerous nation’s; Nigeria’s position stands out due to its huge potentials for wealth, civilization and wellbeing for its citizens.

According to data compiled by universities and international organizations on economy, flow of investments, political stability, crime and terrorism, Nigeria has presence in all indices attributable to insecurity which is recognized by all studies as critical index of political instability.

The Africa’s most populous country and the continent’s largest economy and oil exporter by capacity is unfortunately rated among despicable states like Afghanistan, Colombia and Cameroon. 

According to the report, Nigeria earned its space in the list of most dangerous countries in the world in 2022 by the exploits of criminal syndicates like Area Boys in Lagos State, cult groups in her universities, terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, armed herdsmen and murderous bandits.

The methodology used in the reports collated by The Oracle Today considered high crime rate, high levels of political instability and general violence.

“For this purpose, we’ve used data from the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2022 by the Economics and Peace Organization,” the leading report declared.

The Global Peace Index measures the danger in countries on a scale of 1 to 5, with higher scores relating to higher danger. It accounts for factors like political instability, violent crime rate, external conflict, intensity of internal conflict, terrorism and others.

“However, as it additionally also accounts for factors that are irrelevant insofar as danger goes, we’ve used data from sources like The World Bank and Insight Crime as well,” one of the reports stated.

Research from Auburn University shows that for an increase of 10 percent in crime in a country with a mean population of 25 million, it loses $225 million (adjusted for inflation in 2022) in revenue from tourism annually.

Moreover, the EGADE Business School of Mexico studied the effects of crime on the inflow of Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) in the country from 2005-2015 and found that homicides and robberies had a statistically-significant negative effect on DFI-inflows during the period.

For every 1.0 percent increase in homicides, there was a decrease of 0.28 percent in foreign investment. Robberies had a bigger effect, with 0.33 percent loss in DFI for every 1.0 percent increase in robberies.

As far as political instability goes, it has been shown to be positively correlated with crime and most likely has a multiplying effect on the latter.

The study paid attention to the world’s 25 most dangerous countries as indicators of worsening impact of crime and violence on global economy. It also ranked countries according to the impact of insecurity on their business environment.

In the list of the worst 25 countries with security liabilities on their business environment, 17 came from Africa with Nigeria standing prominent and conspicuous among nations suffering loss of investment opportunities on account of insecurity.

Inversely graded along the lines of peace, Kenya came to the bottom of insecurity list of the 25 unfortunate countries with GPI Score of 2.30, being dangerous enough for the State Department to warn the US citizens to exercise caution when traveling to the country due to terrorist incidents and violent crime in areas of Turkana and the Kenya-Somalia border.

Mozambique follows with GPI Score of 2.31. While Mozambique is not as dangerous as many other countries on the list, there is rampant incidents of mugging in the country, with some districts in the province of Cabo Delgado threatened with terrorism.

Then comes landlocked Burundi with GPI Score of 2.47. The country is also subject to armed attacks carried out by groups operating out of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the provinces of Cibitoke and Bubanza, close to the border with the DRC and Rwanda.

Eritrea comes with GPI Score of 2.49. According to the Organized Crime Index, the estimated prevalence of human trafficking in Eritrea is the highest in all of Africa. In addition, the country’s remote areas are full of landmines.

Chad, another landlocked country in Africa, follows with GPI Score of 2.59 no thanks to a profusion of unorganized bandits, outlaws, robbers, and road gangs.

A swing to Asia sees Burma queuing with a GPI Score of 2.63. The Southeast Asian country hosts many organized and dangerous armed groups. Like Nigeria, Burma’s military is also known to be notoriously brutal, and involved in criminal activities.

Landlocked Niger which has an open border with Nigeria and has enjoyed political and economic sponsorship from the APC administration of the Nigerian government holds a notorious GPI Score of 2.65. It is rampant with petty crime, homicides, terrorism and political turmoil. Terrorists are active throughout northern Niger and in the regions bordering Burkina Faso, Mali, and Libya. Crime is especially high in the Niger capital, Niamey.

Cameroon is global 18^th with GPI Score 2.70. It is ranked one of the most dangerous countries in the world in 2022, mainly due to terrorism and crime. Boko Haram, a terrorist organization active in the country, carries out criminal activities like kidnapping-for-ransom, burglary and extortion, to finance its operations.

Members of secessionist organizations also operate as criminal organizations in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon, where they intimidate business owners with violence to extract money.

The Cameroon situation is similar to circumstances in Nigeria where terrorist incidents scare foreign direct investors from the country.

Away from Africa, the South American nation of Colombia comes 16^th with GPI Score of 2.72. The country is home to powerful organized criminal syndicates as well as warring paramilitary groups running abound due to weak rule of law.

Back to Africa, Burkina Faso comes 15^th with GPI Score of 2.78. The country is rife with terrorism, particularly from the terror group Alqaeda, which targets both the government as well as the civilians.

The entire East and Sahel regions, the provinces of Kossi and Sourou, Kenedougou and Koulpelogo in the Center-East region have all been under a state of emergency enforced by the government due to violence.

Swing back to South America and find Venezuela in the 14^th position with GPI Score of 2.78. The country has homicide rate was at 60 per 100,000 individuals. Various violent organized criminal groups operate in the country. A homegrown one is Megabandas, born out of prisons. According to Insight Crime, the armed forces of Venezuela are also involved in criminal activity.

Ethiopia, from the Horn of Africa, is 13^th with GPI Score of 2.80. It is one of the most dangerous countries in the world in 2022, due to terrorism, and rising crime due to weak rule of law. Various terror groups like Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and Fano attack both the government and civilians.

 Its Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions are especially embroiled in violence.

In Mali where the GPI Score is 2.91, the main active terror groups include Al-Shabab and Boko Haram.

Libya comes in with GPI Score of 2.91; and there has been a considerable increase in armed conflict since April 2019. Libya is a North African country that has been embroiled in civil strife since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

Expectedly, North Korea, a rogue state in East Asia, chimes in with GPI Score of 2.94. The country has a dangerous government that is hostile to the world. Roughly 120,000 people are believed to be detained in the country without fair trial.

Sudan happens to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world in 2022 with GPI Score of 3.0. Violence is still a major problem along the Chad-Sudan border and areas that border South Sudan, like the disputed Abyei area. Opposition militias are actively engaged in Central Darfur and South Kordofan states.

In Central African Republic which has a GPI Score: 3.02, excessive cases of violent crime and the ongoing civil war between the government and rebel coalition remain in focus.

Somalia with it’s long-running civil war and GPI Score of 3.12 has given room to criminal and terror groups run abound in the country.

Iraq, with GPI Score of 3.15, follows naturally with terror attacks by Alqaeda and ISIS.

In zeroing down to the five most dangerous countries in the world in 2022, our partners reported, the Democratic Republic of Congo with a GPI Score of 3.16 is yet another country from Africa where civil war left the nation a fragmented society, civil strife, and high crime rate.

South Sudan with GPI Score of 3.18 is officially known as the Republic of South Sudan reputed for high incidents of rape, armed mugging and kidnapping. The US State Department warns US citizens to not travel to the country as foreign nationals.

Syria, smarting from civil war with GPI Score of 3.35 is one of the most dangerous countries in the world in 2022 due to the ongoing civil war that has devastated the country’s infrastructure and society. Syria experienced a low crime rate prior to the war but as a paper from Stability Journal shows, war and crime are complementing each other in the country. The government forces, as well as the rebels, engage in criminal activity like looting, extortion and smuggling to fund the war effort.

Aside from that, there are multiple armed groups in control of different territories, leaving Syria effectively lawless. These include Jabhat al Nusra, Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.

In Yemen where the GPI Score is 3.39 percent, Saudi-backed Islah Party, Hadi loyalists and Secessionist STC are at war, leaving the country totally lawless.

Afghanistan which is ruled by the terrorist Taliban religious extremists is global champion of violent economic environment with GPI Score of 3.55, becoming the most dangerous country in the world per the 2022 Global Peace Index.

In dissecting the problem of the countries beset with low peace index, the studies observe that political instability does not have a one-size-fits-all solution, adding that deliberate evolution of smart cities is effective solution to pervasive insecurity.

“Even in crime, the best bet is to prevent it practically in the most efficient way possible until there’s a unified criminal theory that captures all its nuance. In this respect, the concept of smart cities shows promise.

“It comprises three layers: technology like smartphones and communication networks like the internet, digital applications that mine insights from big-data, and city-wide implementation frameworks.

“In terms of crimes in mega cities that are economically important and hard to manage, incidents like robberies, car-theft and burglary could be reduced by 30-40 percent while response time could be cut by 20-35 percent using smart city concepts with statistical crime-hot-area flagging and data-driven policing etc.

“This should of course be done in a manner that does not reinforce stereotypes and endanger certain minorities, compromise people’s liberties or reduce human dignity to data and AI.”