Kano governor misrepresents state’s performance in 2025 NECO results

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Qosim Suleiman

Claim: Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf claimed Kano State emerged as the best-performing state in the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal).

Verdict: False. After reviewing the data for 2025 NECO internal SSCE results, PREMIUM TIMES found that Kano did not rank top in performance.

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On sept. 18, 2025, Kano Governor Abba Yusuf took to his Facebook page to claim Kano State was the best-performing state in the recently released 2025 National Examinations Council (NECO) internal Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).

Governor Yusuf attributed the spurious feat to the ‘direct result’ of his administration’s reforms in the education sector.

“It is heartwarming that Kano State has emerged as the best-performing state in the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal), conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO),” he wrote.

“This unprecedented success reflects our education-driven leadership, which has consistently placed funding, infrastructure, and access to learning at the top of our government’s priorities.”

Mr Yusuf also claimed that while Kano was ranked first, Lagos and Oyo states came second and third, respectively.

His claim has been published by several Nigerian newspapers, including Tribune, Business Day, Guardian, Channels Television, and TVC.

What the data shows

After reviewing the data for 2025 NECO internal SSCE results, PREMIUM TIMES can now report that Kano did not rank top in performance.

What happened instead is that over half of Kano’s candidates failed to secure five credits, including English and Mathematics, in the 2025 NECO SSCE internal examinations.

What Kano led with was population, as it housed more than 10 per cent of candidates who sat this year’s examination and just five per cent of candidates who secured at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics –one of the prerequisites for admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

Ranked by pass-rate, Kano placed 29th out of Nigeria’s 37 regions (including the Federal Capital Territory), and not first as the governor claimed.

Also, Kano did not rank above Lagos and Oyo states, as he claimed.

In fact, the state is only ranked above eight northern states, namely, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau, Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, and Sokoto.

2025 NECO Statistics

Announcing the release of the result last week, NECO Registrar Dantani Wushishi, a professor, said 1,358,339 candidates – comprising 680,292 males and 678,047 females– sat for the examination.

Mr Wushishi said 60.26 per cent (818,492) of the candidates secured at least a credit in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

He added that 84.26 per cent secured five credits and above, irrespective of Mathematics and English.

Top-performing state 

PREMIUM TIMES review of the performance data revealed that Abia was the top-performing state by pass-rate.

The data obtained from the examination body shows that 83.31 per cent of 11,260 candidates who sat the examination in Abia passed with at least five credits, including English and Mathematics.

Meanwhile, more than half of Kano’s candidates –50.16 per cent– failed as only 49.84 per cent of its 136,762 candidates secured at least five credits, including English and Mathematics.

Only eight Nigerian states have a poorer pass-rate than Kano. They are Yobe (48.13 per cent), Adamawa (47.99 per cent), Plateau (46.46 per cent), Borno (44.72 per cent), Jigawa (43.81 per cent), Katsina (42.89 per cent), Zamfara (42.12 per cent) and Sokoto (35 per cent).

Governor Yusuf’s misrepresentation

What the Kano State governor touted as ‘top-performance’ was actually population. 

The data from NECO, which the governor referenced, was a ranking of states by the number of students who passed.

By the sheer population of candidates from them, Kano, Lagos, Oyo, and Benue were at the top of this ranking. But it doesn’t reflect the actual performance in the states.

For instance, only 49 per cent of Kano candidates passed the examination. For Lagos, 71 per cent passed, and 60.07 per cent in Oyo state.

Yet, when ranked by sheer figures, Kano has the highest with 68,159, even though it is only 49.84 per cent of its population. In comparison, Lagos’ 71 per cent pass rate is 67,007, and Oyo’s 60 per cent is 48,742.

State-by-state performance in the 2025 NECO SSCE: NECO DATA 

Essentially, Kano has more candidates who failed the NECO SSCE –both in figures and in percentages– than those who passed. While 68,603 candidates or 51 per cent failed, 68,159 or 49 per cent passed. 

Therefore, while Kano’s 49.84 per cent pass-rate amounts to 68,159 candidates, Abia’s 83.31 per cent pass-rate was from only 9,381 candidates.

Additionally, although Kano has 10 per cent of all candidates who sat the examination, it only has five per cent of candidates who passed.

The top 10 states by performance 

1. Abia – 83.31 per cent
2. Imo – 83.09 per cent
3. Ebonyi  – 80.60 per cent
4. Anambra – 76.80 per cent 
5. Bayelsa – 73.88 per cent
6. Delta – 73.10 per cent
7. Osun – 72.64 per cent 
8. Ogun – 72.21 per cent 
9. Lagos – 71.76 per cent 
10. Ekiti – 68.50 per cent

Bottom 10 states by performance

28. Bauchi – 52.62 per cent

29. Kano – 49.84 per cent

30. Yobe – 48.13 per cent

31. Adamawa – 47.99 per cent

32. Plateau – 46.46 per cent

33. Borno – 44.72 per cent

34. Jigawa – 43.81 per cent

35. Katsina – 42.89 per cent

36. Zamfara – 42.12 per cent

37. Sokoto – 35.00 per cent

Conclusion

The claim that Kano State emerged as the best-performing state in the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal) is false. After reviewing the data for 2025 NECO internal SSCE results, PREMIUM TIMES found that Kano did not rank top in performance.