Abia Leads Nigeria’s Governance Rankings as Ekiti, Gombe, Sokoto and Cross River Record Strong Performances
Abia State has emerged as Nigeria’s leading performer in the 2026 Philips Consulting States Performance Index, recording the strongest and most consistent showing across key governance indicators in a nationwide citizen satisfaction survey.
The report, published by StatiSense in collaboration with Philips Consulting, assessed the performance of Nigeria’s 36 states across 15 governance indicators, including education, healthcare, security, infrastructure, transportation, environmental cleanliness, economic opportunity and government support for businesses.
According to the findings, Abia ranked among the top three in 13 of the 15 governance indicators—more than any other state in the country—placing it ahead of other high-performing states such as Ekiti, Gombe, Sokoto, Cross River, Kano and Adamawa.
Top Performing States by Governance Indicator
- Education Affordability: Sokoto, Adamawa, Ekiti
- Road Infrastructure: Gombe, Abia, Kano
- Publicity of Government Policies: Abia, Sokoto, Ekiti
- Healthcare Affordability: Abia, Borno, Sokoto
- Economic Opportunity: Kano, Abia, Adamawa
- Education Quality: Cross River, Abia, Ekiti
- Public Transport: Abia, Sokoto, Plateau
- Healthcare Quality: Gombe, Cross River, Abia
- Security: Abia, Cross River (Joint), Gombe (Joint)
- Ease of Acquiring & Owning Property: Abia (Joint), Adamawa (Joint), Nasarawa (Joint)
- Honesty of Public Servants: Cross River (Joint), Sokoto (Joint), Ekiti
- Environmental Cleanliness: Gombe, Abia, Akwa Ibom
- Government Support for Businesses: Abia, Cross River, Akwa Ibom
- Law Enforcement Conduct: Kogi, Kwara (Joint), Akwa Ibom (Joint)
- Access to Clean Water: Kogi, Ekiti, Abia
- Finding Employment: Sokoto, Abia, Kano
The report shows that Abia led the nation in Publicity of Government Policies, Healthcare Affordability, Public Transport, Security, Government Support for Businesses and, jointly, Ease of Acquiring and Owning Property. The state also secured second-place finishes in Roads, Economic Opportunity, Education Quality, Environmental Cleanliness and Finding Employment, while placing third in Healthcare Quality and Access to Clean Water.
Ekiti also emerged as one of the country’s strongest-performing states, featuring prominently in Education Affordability, Publicity of Government Policies, Education Quality, Honesty of Public Servants and Access to Clean Water.
Other standout performers included Gombe, which topped Road Infrastructure and Environmental Cleanliness; Sokoto, which led Education Affordability and Employment; Cross River, which ranked first in Education Quality; Kano, which topped Economic Opportunity; and Kogi, which led Law Enforcement Conduct and Access to Clean Water.
A notable outcome of the survey is that Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial hub and the state widely known as the “Centre of Excellence,” did not feature among the top three performers in any of the 15 governance indicators measured. The report itself does not draw conclusions about the reasons for this outcome, but the rankings indicate that several states outperformed Lagos across the governance metrics assessed.
The Philips Consulting States Performance Index is based on a five-point citizen satisfaction scale, with higher scores indicating stronger public satisfaction with government performance.
