Lagos ‘Not Worried’ About The Economist Ranking

Lagos State government said on Thursday that it is not worried by a study published by The Economist of London, rating it the second least liveable city in the world, after Damascus.

Speaking in an interview, Steve Ayorinde, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said the ranking does not reflect the numerous successes Lagos has recorded, which has made it a choice destination for investors in Africa.

“What is more gratifying is that inspite of all those ranking, we are receiving global recognition. So we are not losing any sleep about the ranking,” he said.

‘’And since the ranking started, there is no year that Lagos has not featured. It does not matter where Lagos is listed. To us, Lagos is in reckoning in any type of ranking that anyone may want to consider.

“It is not an issue to worry about because it is a yearly ranking on liveability by the Economist and its partners, which captures the perspective of the magazine on what they perceived makes the indices that makes a city liveable.

“Lagos will always be in reckoning. What is important is that liveability indices is a subjective analyses. What everyone needs to know is that the type of megacity Lagos benchmarks itself with is also on that ranking but not in top 10,” he added.

The Economist Intelligence Unit on Wednesday ranked Lagos as second in the top ten least liveable cities in the world by The Economist.

Lagos was second behind Damascus and ahead of Tripoli and Dhaka.

Australian city of Melbourne remained top on the list of the World’s Most Liveable city for the seventh year running.

Melbourne was ranked slightly ahead of the capital city of Austria, Vienna.

Canadian trio of Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary sit on the list’s third, fourth and fifth spots respectively.