Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre, has been ranked 6th in Africa and 55th globally as the most expensive city for international employees, according to a 2022 Mecer’s report.
The report ranked the best 50 cities to work in 2022, looking at the quality of life for personal finance, leisure options, personal happiness, travel and transport, health and well-being, safety and security, digital dash, and the ease of settling in a foreign city.
It ranked Valencia, Dubai, and Mexico City as the top three global cities for expatriates to live and work based on their high quality of life.
“A city’s attractiveness is based on several factors, and while the cost of living is an important one, other components include the affordability of housing, the quality of life-based on a range of factors such as safety, sanitation, eco-friendliness or education standards, as well as governance and taxation considerations,” the report said.
In another survey carried out by Expat Insider Survey on its annual Expat City Ranking 2022 report, Nigeria is not among the cities expatriates would settle or reside outside their home countries.
Expat City Ranking 2021 comprises 57 cities from around the world. However, only four African cities received enough votes to be included in the year’s ranking, and two finished in the bottom 10.
Nigeria was last ranked in 2019 when it was classified in the bottom ten and ranked 62nd out of the 64 countries surveyed.
It was placed 64th in terms of quality of life, 59th in terms of leisure opportunities, 59th in terms of personal happiness, 64th in terms of travel and transportation, 64th in terms of health, 62nd in terms of safety and security, 63rd in terms of digital life, 31st in terms of ease of settling in and expatriates’ dissatisfaction with working in Nigeria ranked 53rd.
Expatriates are attracted to Africa for its rich culture. But not all cities give them the best of experiences. For example, N’Djamena, Chad, and Lagos, Nigeria, were the most expensive cities for expatriates last year.
“Aside from security concerns, how many entrepreneurs will want to come to Nigeria given the government policies, electricity supply, and the Nigerian economy, which is not conducive to expatriates working or investing,” Abidemi Ajai, group human head resource, CoralStone Capital said.
Read also: Seven culprits behind Nigeria’s cost of living crisis
“It’s difficult to recruit expatriates to work in the country, and keeping the few that do is difficult. For example, when some of them received an alert from their countries saying Nigeria is unsafe, that alone cast a negative light on the country,” he said.
“They were formerly the kidnapping target; to obtain the expatriates, we must provide maximum security,” Ajai added.
With almost 1.3 billion inhabitants, Africa is the second-most populous continent; professionals seek greener pastures because demand exceeds supply.
According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2022, foreign direct investment (FDI) to African countries reached a record $83 billion in 2021, more than double the amount reported in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic weighed heavily on investment flows to the continent.
