About pSPI

How Nigeria's states actually perform — measured, not asserted.

An annual, evidence-based index from Phillips Consulting — built to replace opinion and isolated statistics with a single, comparable standard for state-level governance.

Established

2018

First edition published

Coverage

37

36 states and the Federal Capital Territory

Framework

16

Performance parameters assessed

Method

70/30

Objective data weighted with citizen sentiment

Evidence-based·Objective & comparable·Transparent methodology·Repeated annually

A consistent standard for judging how states actually deliver.

The Index

The Phillips Consulting State Performance Index (pSPI) is an annual, evidence-based assessment of governance and development performance across Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Developed by Phillips Consulting, the Index provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating how effectively sub-national governments deliver public value, strengthen institutions, manage public resources, and create enabling conditions for inclusive economic and social development.

Why It Exists

The Index was established to address a significant gap within Nigeria's governance ecosystem: the need for reliable, objective, and comparable performance data to support evidence-based decision-making. While political narratives or isolated statistics often shapes public discourse on government performance, the pSPI offers a consistent and transparent methodology for assessing state performance, using carefully selected indicators that reflect both governance outcomes and citizens' experiences.

A Strategic Tool

Beyond measuring performance, the pSPI serves as a strategic decision-support tool. It enables policymakers to identify strengths, diagnose development gaps, benchmark progress against peers, and prioritise reforms that deliver measurable impact.

Beyond the Ranking

Rather than existing solely as a ranking exercise, the pSPI is designed to foster healthy competition among states, encourage accountability, highlight emerging best practices, and promote continuous improvement in governance, public service delivery, and sustainable development outcomes.

Built to be trusted, not just read.

Every score traces back to a source. The methodology is the same for every state, every year — so the comparison actually holds.

Evidence-based

Grounded in reliable, objective performance data — not political narrative or isolated statistics.

Objective & comparable

A single, consistent standard applied identically across all 37 jurisdictions, so states can be measured against peers.

Transparent method

A clear, published methodology using carefully selected indicators — the logic behind every score is open to scrutiny.

Citizen-grounded

Indicators reflect both governance outcomes and the lived experience of citizens, not just figures on a page.

A decision-support tool

What the pSPI puts in a policymaker's hands.

01

Identify strengths

02

Diagnose development gaps

03

Benchmark progress against peers

04

Prioritise reforms that deliver measurable impact

A Phillips Consulting initiative.

Research · Advisory · Since 1992

The pSPI is developed and published by Phillips Consulting — a firm with over three decades of advisory work across the public and private sectors in Nigeria and beyond. That institutional weight is what lets the Index hold governments, investors and citizens to the same standard, and stand behind every number it publishes.

See what the data says about your state.

Talk to a strategist about how the pSPI can inform your next decision.

Talk to a strategist