diff --git a/apps/bgprouter/src/main/java/org/onosproject/bgprouter/BgpRouter.java b/apps/bgprouter/src/main/java/org/onosproject/bgprouter/BgpRouter.java
index 069fc50..462bcc0 100644
--- a/apps/bgprouter/src/main/java/org/onosproject/bgprouter/BgpRouter.java
+++ b/apps/bgprouter/src/main/java/org/onosproject/bgprouter/BgpRouter.java
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@
             groupService.addGroup(groupDescription);
             */
 
-            nextHops.put(nextHop.ip(), entry.hashCode());
+            nextHops.put(nextHop.ip(), flowObjectiveService.allocateNextId());
 
         }
 
diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveService.java
index 690fcc7..fd6ac55 100644
--- a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveService.java
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveService.java
@@ -47,4 +47,10 @@
      */
     void next(DeviceId deviceId, NextObjective nextObjective);
 
+    /**
+     * Obtains a globally unique next objective.
+     * @return an integer
+     */
+    int allocateNextId();
+
 }
diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveStore.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveStore.java
index e667618..033558c 100644
--- a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveStore.java
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/FlowObjectiveStore.java
@@ -38,4 +38,11 @@
      * @return a next group
      */
     NextGroup getNextGroup(Integer nextId);
+
+    /**
+     * Allocates a next objective id. This id is globally unique
+     *
+     * @return an integer
+     */
+    int allocateNextId();
 }
diff --git a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/impl/FlowObjectiveManager.java b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/impl/FlowObjectiveManager.java
index 17b0aa7..6b84bfa 100644
--- a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/impl/FlowObjectiveManager.java
+++ b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/flowobjective/impl/FlowObjectiveManager.java
@@ -170,6 +170,11 @@
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public int allocateNextId() {
+        return flowObjectiveStore.allocateNextId();
+    }
+
     private boolean queueObjective(DeviceId deviceId, ForwardingObjective fwd) {
         if (fwd.nextId() != null &&
                 flowObjectiveStore.getNextGroup(fwd.nextId()) == null) {
diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/flowobjective/impl/DistributedFlowObjectiveStore.java b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/flowobjective/impl/DistributedFlowObjectiveStore.java
index 94d72ec..8dbc634 100644
--- a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/flowobjective/impl/DistributedFlowObjectiveStore.java
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/flowobjective/impl/DistributedFlowObjectiveStore.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.onosproject.net.flowobjective.FlowObjectiveStoreDelegate;
 import org.onosproject.net.flowobjective.ObjectiveEvent;
 import org.onosproject.store.AbstractStore;
+import org.onosproject.store.service.AtomicCounter;
 import org.onosproject.store.service.ConsistentMap;
 import org.onosproject.store.service.Serializer;
 import org.onosproject.store.service.StorageService;
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@
     @Reference(cardinality = ReferenceCardinality.MANDATORY_UNARY)
     protected StorageService storageService;
 
+    private AtomicCounter nextIds;
+
     @Activate
     public void activate() {
         nextGroups = storageService.<Integer, byte[]>consistentMapBuilder()
@@ -62,6 +65,10 @@
                                 .build()))
                 .build();
 
+        nextIds = storageService.atomicCounterBuilder()
+                .withName("next-objective-counter")
+                .build();
+
         log.info("Started");
     }
 
@@ -86,4 +93,9 @@
         }
         return null;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public int allocateNextId() {
+        return (int) nextIds.incrementAndGet();
+    }
 }