The Kano State Bureau of Statistics has dismissed as misleading a report by Premium Times which questioned Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s claim that Kano produced the highest number of successful candidates in the 2025 NECO Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
This was contained in a statement signed by the Statistician-General of the State, Dr Aliyu Isa Aliyu, on Saturday, where he said the publication “is not reflective of the official statistics released by NECO.”
The statement reads partly: “The Bureau carefully reviewed the NECO data and found that Premium Times relied on a selective analysis, isolating only one indicator where Abia State ranked first, while ignoring the broader set of indicators that establish Kano as the national leader.”
It continued: “According to NECO’s official figures, the Bureau extracted and analysed six major indicators. Out of these, Kano ranked first in five, while Abia led in only one. In the overall performance, Kano had the highest candidate participation with 137,338 registered, 136,762 sat, and 103,579 attained five credits and above irrespective of Mathematics and English.
“This is the largest absolute figure nationwide, far ahead of Lagos with 85,071 and Oyo with 70,609. In the general state ranking, Kano again placed first with the largest pool of successful candidates, cementing its position as the education hub of Nigeria in 2025.”
The statement further reads: “Kano also emerged as the leader in female education. Out of 75,115 girls registered and 74,098 who sat, 39,851 obtained five credits including Mathematics and English, the highest in the country, surpassing Lagos with 38,804 and Oyo with 26,371.”
Kano also posted strong performance among boys. According to the Bureau, 62,223 males were registered and 61,854 sat, with 43,808 attaining five credits irrespective of Mathematics and English—higher than Lagos with 38,869 and Oyo with 22,371.
On the stricter benchmark requiring credits in both English and Mathematics, Lagos narrowly led with 30,203 successful boys, while Kano followed with 28,308. The Bureau noted that this achievement was “particularly significant considering Kano’s much larger enrolment base.”
Dr Aliyu added that Premium Times’ method of isolating only one performance indicator amounted to “a distortion of facts,” stressing that Governor Yusuf’s claim was accurate and backed by NECO’s official data.
“All data used in this analysis were secured directly from the National Examination Council (NECO) as provided by the Registrar, Prof Ibrahim Wushishi,” the statement added.
