Suara Sherif
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group has a blunt message for state governors: you cannot buy investment with tax waivers.
You have to earn it with good governance.
The private sector led policy group said stronger competition among states for capital could spread economic opportunities beyond a handful of major cities and unlock the productive potential of different regions.
But the competition must be won on the quality of governance, not unsustainable fiscal concessions.
“State governments will be challenged to compete for investment not through unsustainable fiscal concessions but through the quality of their governance, the competence of their institutions, and the strategic intelligence of their development planning,” the NESG said in a statement on Monday.
The group pointed to a stark reality: Nigeria’s economic activity is heavily concentrated in a few states and cities—Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, while vast swathes of the country remain economically marginalised despite possessing agricultural, mineral and cultural resources.
That concentration creates a double burden.
In leading commercial centres like Lagos, infrastructure groans under the weight of excessive activity, gridlock alone costs the economy hundreds of billions of naira annually in lost productive time.
In less active areas, infrastructure suffers from underinvestment and limited utilisation.
Worse, migration from less-developed areas to established economic centres drains human capital from states seeking to build competitive industries.
Every state that develops a functional economy, the NESG argued, becomes a market, a production zone and a talent pool that adds to Nigeria’s national potential rather than draining from it.
The group said states must build investment strategies around their comparative advantages.
It identified rice production in Kebbi and Niger, horticulture and cold chain development in Plateau, tourism and cocoa in Cross River, commercial and manufacturing opportunities in Kano, and solid minerals and timber in Ondo and Delta.
“These are not conjectures; they are latent economic realities waiting for the enabling conditions: infrastructure, investment, policy, and market linkages,” the NESG said.
The organisation also advocated for stronger regional value chains linking production, processing, logistics and markets across state boundaries.
Agricultural value chains, for instance, could connect farmers in one state with processing facilities in neighbouring states, while transport networks link products to consumption centres and export terminals.
Infrastructure remains fundamental.
Roads and bridges connect markets. Railways lower logistics costs. Electricity supports manufacturing. Digital infrastructure enables communities outside major commercial centres to participate in the domestic and global economy.
The Scale Nigeria discussions will form part of the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit, themed “Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity,” scheduled for October 26 and 27, 2026, in Abuja.
“The Scale Nigeria dialogue will build the consensus and the policy agenda for an economy that grows not just at its core, but in every corner of the federation,” the NESG said.
For states waiting for federal allocations to solve their problems, the message is clear: the future belongs to those that create an environment where businesses can thrive, not those that offer the deepest discounts.
