Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, has faulted a report rating Lagos as the third worst city to live in the world.
The report issued on Tuesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) had cited security, education and healthcare delivery as benchmarks for its ratings.
Speaking on a Channels TV programme on Wednesday, Mr Rewane, described the report as subjective adding that the criteria used in reaching such conclusion were inconsistent.
The finance expert said: “First and foremost, I think the report is subjective and it is based on warped criteria. Certainly, in a survey that says that number 86 is Johannesburg when you talk about crime, terrorism, insurgency and Lagos is number 138 out of 140, it’s unfortunate.
“I feel safer in Lagos than in Johannesburg in terms of crime. I cannot stop at a traffic light in Johannesburg without looking over my shoulder, in Lagos I could probably do that.”
EIU had ranked cities like Vienna, Melbourne, Osaka and Tokyo as the 10 most-liveable cities, and ranked cities such as Damascus, Dakar, Karachi and Lagos as the 10 least liveable cities in 2018.
While stating that he was not in any way making excuses for Lagos, Rewane said that the survey itself was based on certain values which may not be universal.
He explained: “But having said that, to say that the risk of insurgency in Lagos – because I heard the interview and the guys talked about Boko Haram – quite frankly there is no Boko Haram existential threat in Lagos as anywhere.
“Lagos is safer from Boko Haram than say Yaoundé in Cameroon. So, I find it difficult to understand the criteria. Yes, there are other criteria but obviously to rank Lagos as the third worst city to live in in the world is a bit above the top.”
Rewane, however, said that Lagos still had a lot to do in terms of improving access in two critical sectors like healthcare and education.
