Lagos and Kaduna Top 2025 Ease of Doing Business Rankings, PEBEC Reports
The federal government has announced that Lagos and Kaduna are the highest-ranked states in Nigeria’s 2025 Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) assessment.
Zahrah Audu, Director-General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), revealed the rankings in a statement on Thursday, noting that the results are drawn from PEBEC’s 2025 subnational EoDB report.
According to Audu, the report provides a comprehensive, data-driven evaluation of how Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are fostering business competitiveness through regulatory frameworks, infrastructure development, and administrative efficiency.
Top MDAs in 2025 EoDB Rankings
In addition, PEBEC identified the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as the leading ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) for 2025. The rankings were part of the council’s Business Facilitation Act (BFA) performance report, which covers MDA performance from January to October 2025.
“The report evaluates 69 priority MDAs using monthly compliance submissions, independent mystery shopping, website audits, ReportGov analytics, and process-verification exercises,” Audu explained.
She highlighted the top five MDAs as follows:
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NCDMB – 90.6%
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NDLEA – 89.3%
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Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) – 86.6%
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Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) – 85.3%
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Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) – 84.2%
Audu said the 2025 EoDB report emphasizes five key priority interventions states can implement immediately, including investor aftercare systems, improved MSME credit access, interstate trade rules, enhanced commercial justice processes, and reliable power supply for industrial clusters.
PEBEC’s support for state-level reforms through the $750 million State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme reinforces the report’s significance for policy-making, investment promotion, and competitiveness in Nigeria.
The report assesses state performance across 16 indicators and 36 sub-metrics covering areas such as electricity, infrastructure, digital connectivity, land administration, taxation, trade logistics, justice delivery, investor support, and skilled labour readiness.
Lagos emerged as the top-performing state with an 85.6% score, followed by Kaduna at 65.1%. Oyo, FCT, and Ogun completed the top five with scores of 62.7%, 61.0%, and 59.9%, respectively. Enugu (56.2%), Plateau (56.2%), Ekiti (55.8%), Kano (54.8%), and Nasarawa (53.4%) rounded out the top ten.
Audu praised these states for maintaining consistent reform momentum, improving digital processes, and creating predictable regulatory environments. She also called on MDAs to use the report to enhance business-facing services, ensuring they are technology-driven, responsive, and globally competitive.
