As the controversy rages over the best performing state in the recently released 2025 National Examinations Council (NECO) internal Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), Kano State continues to insist on its claim that it recorded better results than the other 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
PREMIUM TIMES had debunked Kano’s claim, explaining that the state used absolute numbers to misrepresent its performance. According to the newspaper, Kano did not even feature in the list of top 10 states by performance, which is led by Abia with 83.31% performance, followed by Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra and Bayelsa. Others in that rank are Delta, Osun, Ogun, Lagos and Ekiti.
Kano is listed among the top bottom states by performance, which is led by Bauchi (52.62%). Kano recorded 49.84%, trailed by Yobe, Adamawa and Plateau States. Others are Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto States.
The state government has doubled down on its claim, misrepresenting its true performance and ranking in the 2025 examinations.
Ibrahim Waiya
Meanwhile, Kano has the highest number of candidates who failed the 2025 NECO examinations at 68,603.
But in a statement by its Commissioner for Communication and Internal Affairs, Hon. Ibrahim Waiya, Kano States insisted that it remains the ‘most successful in the 2025 NECO examinations’.
Waiya maintained that, while announcing the result, NECO Registrar, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, declared that Kano State produced the highest number of candidates who passed with five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
He said: ‘Contrary to the so-called selective data interpretation being peddled, the NECO Registrar’s statement remains the most authoritative and credible declaration of the examination performance ranking by states for any sensible, reasonable person or organisation to rely upon.
‘The claim that some other state topped the performance table is, therefore, a gross misrepresentation of the facts and a calculated attempt at manipulating public perception and the positive image the state government enjoys owing to the stellar performance of the Kano State’s students at the 2025 NECO exams’.
However, PREMIUM TIMES insists that the claim of Waiya and the Kano State government is a misrepresentation of actual performance data.
While Kano had the highest number of candidates who passed the examination with five credits, including English and Mathematics, it also had the highest number of candidates who failed the examinations.
Only 49.84 per cent of Kano State candidates passed the examination. The remaining 50.16% failed.
According to the newspaper, Kano fielded a total of 136,762 candidates, out of which 68,159 passed and 68,603 failed.
Meanwhile, 83.31% of Abia State candidates passed, the highest pass-rate in the country. The Southeast state fielded 11,260 candidates, and 9,381 passed, and only 1,879 candidates failed.
But NECO has restated that Kano is the undisputed best-performing state in its 2025 examinations with 5.886% and 39,351.
A report by a national newspaper faulted NECO, giving Abia as the best-performing state, using the state code number 001 as a yardstick, but the council described the reports as misleading.
However, NECO said what the newspaper reported was ‘an analysis of candidates’ performance by states, not the final results of the total results and ranking of states and showing Abia State code number 001 is nothing but misleading’.
