Nigeria ranked sixth most miserable country in the world | Nairalaw

An economist from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, US,
Steve Hanke, has ranked Nigeria as the sixth most miserable country
in the world.

The ranking is titled, Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2018: The
World’s Saddest (And Happiest) Countries.

Writing in the Forbes magazine of March 28, the economist notes
that Misery Index is calculated using economic indices such as
unemployment, inflation and the rates banks charge on loans.

“In the sphere of economics, misery tends to flow from high
inflation, steep borrowing costs and unemployment,” Hanke
warns.

The Index notes that the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria
contributes largely to its unflattering rating on the Misery
Index.

Hanke, in his explanatory note wrote, “The original Misery Index
was just a simple sum of a nation’s annual inflation rate and its
unemployment rate.

“The Index has been modified several times, first by Robert
Barro of Harvard and then by myself.

“My modified Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment,
inflation and bank lending rates, minus the percentage change in
real GDP per capita.

“Higher readings on the first three elements are ‘bad’ and make
people more miserable. These are offset by a ‘good’ (GDP per capita
growth), which is subtracted from the sum of the ‘bads.’

“A higher Misery Index score reflects a higher level of
‘misery,’ and it’s a simple enough metric that a busy president,
without time for extensive economic briefings, can understand at a
glance.”

Thailand and Hungary rank as the least miserable countries in
the world on the 2018 Misery Index, having ranked 95th and 94th
respectively of the 95 countries ranked by Hanke.

Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Brazil and Turkey lead in that
order, while Nigeria is sixth.

See the
full report as published by Forbes^[1]

ICPC Commences Probes Budgetary Allocations of
MDAs
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) has observed that a reasonable number of
petitions received by it are on infractions committed in the
process of implementing the budgetary provisions and allocations of
Capital Development Fund and Personnel Cost.

In order to reduce the lapses in the utilisation of funds
released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for Capital
Expenditure and Personnel Cost, the Commission will, beginning from
tomorrow Monday, 1st April, 2019, deploy its officers to MDAs to
carry out a Systems Study and Review on 2017 and 2018 Personnel
Cost as well as 2018 Capital Development Fund.

As part of the exercise, the Commission will also deploy an
instrument, known as Ethics and Compliance Score Card, to measure
Ethics and Integrity standards in MDA operations.

Letters have been dispatched to the various MDAs for strict
compliance and to note that personnel cost is for payment of salary
and allowances for Government employees only, while Capital
Development Funds are for Capital Projects as approved in the
Appropriation Act.

Infractions identified in the process of the exercise will be
addressed accordingly in line with extant laws and policies.

Mrs. Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, mni
Spokesperson for the Commission