As remote working options improve talent mobility and startup culture deepens across the country, tech veteran Victor Asemota argues more companies will look beyond Lagos. “The reason tech companies are located in Lagos was not because of market but infrastructure and talent,” Asemota tells Quartz.

As it turns out, some states are doubling down on building enabling infrastructure as they grow wiser to the opportunities that come with offering an alternative to Lagos. For instance, Ekiti, a southwest state that’s 200 miles from Lagos and known for high literacy rates, recently slashed broadband installation fees by 96% to boost local internet penetration and attract new businesses. For its part, the government in Edo, a state in Nigeria’s south, also funded and launched a tech hub two years ago to foster innovation and digital skills training.

Such proactive moves are a marker of intention, Tijani says. “Their growth as a business cluster will be based on something [tangible] rather than wishful thinking,” he tells Quartz Africa. And with benefits ranging from job creation and growing local tax bases to the impact of skill and knowledge transfer to locals, the upside of being a viable alternative to Lagos is clear.

Perhaps the most damning evidence of the shifting sentiment about doing business in Lagos is that long-time champions of the Lagos ecosystem, including Shagaya and Tijani are endorsing moves away from the state.

“The idea that Lagos is the be all, end all is no longer true,” says Iyin Aboyeji, an early co-founder of Lagos-based Andela and Flutterwave, who has chosen Calabar in Nigeria’s south as the base for his new investment firm, Future Africa. “Lagos has a lot of competition now.”

Sign up to the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief here for news and analysis on African business, tech and innovation in your inbox

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.