Lagos State has emerged as Nigeria’s leading subnational for ease of doing business, according to a new nationwide assessment of business environments unveiled at The Reform and Diplomatic Roundtable 2026 in Abuja.
The report, presented on Friday, March 28, was jointly organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), UK International Development, and the Nigeria Economic Stability and Transformation Programme.
It evaluated how effectively state governments are creating conditions that support business growth, investment, and economic activity.
Lagos secured the top spot after scoring strongly across regulatory readiness, infrastructure availability, and institutional transparency. Kaduna ranked second, followed by Oyo, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ogun, Enugu, Plateau, Ekiti, Kano, and Nasarawa.
The assessment underscores the growing importance of state-level reforms in shaping Nigeria’s economic outlook. While federal initiatives remain significant, the report emphasised that the real business environment is largely determined by how state governments address operational bottlenecks affecting businesses.
According to the report, Nigeria’s economic resilience and long-term growth prospects depend heavily on improvements at the subnational level, particularly with more than 39 million Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) operating across the country. It noted that the performance of individual states has become increasingly critical in determining investor confidence and business expansion.
The evaluation used a framework of 16 indicators covering electricity access, infrastructure, digital connectivity, land administration, justice delivery, taxation, trade logistics, investor support, crisis resilience, and workforce development. These were further broken down into 36 operational sub-indicators tied to administrative datasets to reflect both policy frameworks and real-world service delivery.
Lagos’ strong performance was attributed to relatively reliable electricity supply, efficient land administration systems, and functional commercial courts. The state also benefited from strong market access, a skilled workforce, effective contract enforcement, and major infrastructure assets including airports and rail networks.
However, the report identified gaps in Lagos’ business environment, including issues of touting and loitering around logistics and commercial hubs, weak investor aftercare systems, and uneven digital connectivity in non-urban areas. These challenges, the report noted, create security concerns and disrupt predictable commercial operations, particularly in transport and trade.
The findings also revealed regional disparities across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. The South-West dominated the top 10 with four states, followed by the North-Central with three states, the North-West with two states, and the South-East with one. No state from the North-East or South-South made the top 10.
Enugu, the only South-East state on the list, ranked sixth, driven by strengths in digital connectivity, electricity access, workforce development, and social infrastructure, though challenges remain around investor aftercare and access to credit.
