The National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN) in conjuction with Tony Elumelu Foundation and Ford Foundation have launched Nigeria’s sub-national index and national competitiveness report.
The report ranked all 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, across four key areas which are: human capital, infrastructure, economy and institutions.
The Chief Executive Officer, NCCN, Chika Mordi, said the report is the product of a 20-month survey on how the states can be economically viable.
According to him, “In aggregate, Nigeria remains challenged in its competitiveness. We expect the index to have a catalytic effect in competitive state policies which will ultimately lead to greater business productivity, resulting in job creation and poverty reduction.
“We have worked rigorously to ensure objectivity and transparency in our methodology. Where possible, we applied effective tools for cross validation and ease of replicability. It is by no means perfect, but we envisage improvements with subsequent iterations of the index.
“The ultimate goal is all about poverty reduction and we feel that competitiveness will drive job creation and inclusive growth, which reduces poverty. This is a more viable part than all revenues or standard government development plans.”
According to former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, “Nigerian states are not competitive because they are not productive. Each state sees itself as a federation unit, but not as an economic entity. There is no master plan to make them economic entities. We have to think outside the box because we are our own enemy.”
However, the CEO of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Adim Jibunoh, said the Federal Government should focus less on the Exclusive List.
He said the list is so concentrated that the states are restricted from actualising their potentials.
The report ranked Lagos as the most competitive state followed by Delta and Rivers States respectively. The less most competitive is Gombe State followed by Borno State.
Over 8,000 households were sampled across the 36 states and the FCT.
