THE WORLD'S TEN WORST DICTATORS

1. Omar al-Bashir, Sudan

Age 62. In power since 1989
Since 2003, Bashir’s campaign of ethnic and religious persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes.The good news is that Bashir’s army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they’ve stopped; there are few villages left to burn and their attacks are now aimed at refugee camps.

2. Kim Jong-il, North Korea

Age 63. In power since 1994
While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s most tightly controlled society with an estimated 250,000 people confined in "reeducation camps."Malnourishment is widespread and according to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter and more than 20 pounds lighter than a South Korean boy of the same age .

3. Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar)

Age 72. In power since 1992
In November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire government from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to Pyinmana, a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days’ notice and are forbidden from resigning. The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwe’s most feared opponent, recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily guarded home is to risk arrest.

4. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe

Age 81. In power since 1980
Zimbabwe is a tough place to live. It has the world’s highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms, giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture. In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean the Filth), the forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their homes or businesses.

5. Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan

Age 67. In power since 1990
In 2005 Karimov ordered a mass killing in the city of Andijan after 23 businessmen, held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters, who then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000 people gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to their grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred hundreds of men, women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all members of his family immune from prosecution forever

6. Hu Jintao, China

Age 63. In power since 2002
Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations and the government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes, e-mails and text messages. Less than 5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction rate is 99.7%

7. King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia

Age 82. In power since 1995
In Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras are banned. It is illegal for public employees to engage in dialogue with local and foreign media. By law, all Saudi citizens must be Muslims. Saudi women may not appear in public with a man who isn’t a relative, must cover their bodies and faces in public and may not drive.

8. Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan

Age 65. In power since 1990
Niyazov has closed all of the hospitals outside the capital and ordered Turkmenistan’s physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him instead.The latest examples of his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching and playing recorded music on TV or at weddings.

He died Dec 21st 2006

9. Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran

Age 66. In power since 1989
Even though Iran has an elected government the county is ultimately run by the 12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamane’i, which has the right to veto any law that the government passes. Khamane’i has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution of homosexual males.

10. Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea

Age 63. In power since 1979
Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle more than 25 years ago. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.

We've had our own share of bad dictators here in Nigeria but going through the profiles of the above listed dictators and what they've turned their country and people into, I feel we've been blessed. I didn't know that women were banned from driving in Iraq and homosexual males were killed in Iran. Zimbabwe even has an unemployment rate of 80%. What kind of a country is that?

For all our faults, Nigeria is still a peacful country, where women are allowed to do everything a man is allowed to do, where no one is forced to follow a certain religion, where the rights and liberties of it's people are protected and respected to a large extent. There's unemployement in Nigeria no doubt, but not 80% for Christ sake. That's too sad!

When I hear about the ways people live and survive in other countries, I feel blessed to be Nigerian. Our leaders might be corrupt but life for the average Nigerian is not that bad. You can only realise that when you visit other countries and see the way it's people live.