Kano State has taken the lead as the overall best-performing state in the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO), a feat the government attributes to far-reaching reforms in the education sector.
The state topped the national performance chart with 68,159 candidates—representing 5.02 per cent of the total—scoring five credits and above, including Mathematics and English. Lagos State followed closely with 67,007 candidates (4.93 per cent), while Oyo State placed third with 48,742 candidates.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, speaking through his spokesperson, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, hailed the achievement as proof of his administration’s continued investment in education. He explained that since assuming office, his government has consistently prioritised funding, infrastructure, and equitable access to learning opportunities.
“In both the 2024 and 2025 budgets, education received the highest allocation. This enabled us to rehabilitate schools, provide free uniforms and materials, recruit and train teachers, and create broader opportunities for our young people,” the governor said.
He further highlighted efforts in promoting girl-child education, awarding scholarships, and tackling the challenge of out-of-school children, stressing that these initiatives were key contributors to the state’s remarkable success. “Our reforms are clearly bearing fruit, and this performance confirms that Kano is on the right track. Education remains our number one priority, and we will not relent until every child in Kano has access to quality education,” Yusuf added.
Observers noted that the governor’s proactive measures have earned him nationwide recognition, with Leadership Newspaper, Blueprint Newspaper, and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) naming him “Education Governor of the Year.” They described Kano’s unprecedented results in the 2025 NECO exams as evidence of “visionary leadership and sustained human capital investment.”
It will be recalled that Governor Yusuf declared a state of emergency in the education sector in 2024 and subsequently dedicated 31 per cent of the 2025 state budget to education as part of a comprehensive recovery agenda.
Meanwhile, NECO Registrar, Professor Ibrahim Wushishi, who released the results in Minna, Niger State, revealed that 818,492 of the 1,358,339 candidates who sat for the June/July examination—representing 60.26 per cent—obtained five credits and above, including English and Mathematics. He added that 1,144,496 candidates, or 84.26 per cent, secured at least five credits irrespective of the two core subjects.
