Lagos, Kaduna lead FG’s 2025 ease of doing business ranking

The federal government says Lagos and Kaduna have emerged as the top-performing states on the ease of doing business in 2025.

In a statement on Thursday, Zahrah Audu, the director-general (DG) of the presidential enabling business environment council (PEBEC), said the ranking is based on the council’s 2025 subnational Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) report.

Audu said the report is a comprehensive data-driven assessment of how Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) are shaping business competitiveness through regulation, infrastructure, and administrative efficiency.

According to the DG, the report assesses performance across 16 indicators and 36 sub-metrics covering electricity, infrastructure, and digital connectivity.

Other metrics include land administration, taxation, trade logistics, justice delivery, investor support, and skilled labour readiness.

“Lagos emerged as the best performing state with an 85.6% score while Kaduna was second with a 65.1% score,” Audu said.

“Oyo, FCT, and Ogun rounded up the top five with scores of 62.7%, 61.0%, and 59.9% respectively. Enugu (56.2%) came in sixth, with Plateau (56.2%), Ekiti (55.8%), Kano (54.8%), and Nasarawa (53.4%) rounding up the top 10 states.

“These states distinguished themselves through consistent reform momentum, improved digital processes, and more predictable regulatory environments.”

The PEBEC chief said the 2025 report highlights five priority interventions states can implement immediately, including establishing investor aftercare systems and strengthening MSME credit enablement.

Other priorities listed are interstate trade rules, upgrading commercial justice processes, and improving power reliability for industrial clusters.

Audu added that PEBEC’s support for state reforms, via the $750 million state action on business enabling reforms (SABER) programme, makes the 2025 EoDB report crucial for policy, investment, and competitiveness in Nigeria.

NCDMB, NDLEA LEAD MDAs INDEX IN 2025 EODB RANKINGS

In a related statement, the PEBEC said the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are the top-performing ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) in the 2025 EoDB rankings.

The ranking is contained in the council’s 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) performance report, covering MDA performance from January to October 2025.

“The report presents a data-driven assessment of 69 priority MDAs, drawing on monthly compliance submissions, independent mystery shopping, website audits, ReportGov analytics, and targeted process-verification exercises,” the DG said.

“The top five performing MDAs during this period are the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with an impressive 90.6% score, followed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at 89.3% and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) ranking third with 86.6%,” the DG said.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring 85.3% and 84.2% respectively.

“These agencies distinguished themselves through strong adherence to the BFA’s statutory obligations, digital process optimisation, predictable service levels, and improved responsiveness to citizen and business enquiries.”

Audu urged the MDAs to leverage the report to deepen their commitment to delivering business-facing services that are predictable, technology-driven, and globally competitive.