Kano State comes first in the 2026 NECO exam with 74,413 students passing five subjects including English and Maths.
Kano State has ranked first in Nigeria in the senior school examination conducted by the National Examinations Council.
A total of 74,413 students in Kano State passed very well, earning at least five credits, including the two compulsory subjects, English Language and Mathematics.
This great achievement puts Kano State ahead of every other state in the country, beating Lagos State, which came second with 72,496 students, and Oyo State, which took the third position with 55,543 students.
The official news was announced on Saturday by the Kano State Government through a statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Mr. Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa.
This makes it the second year in a row that Kano State is winning the first position across the nation, after doing the same thing during the 2025 examination.
The examination body released the national results showing how every state performed, and Kano State stood out at the top of the chart again.
The main reason for this big success is the huge amount of money and attention the Kano State Government has been putting into public schools and education reforms.
The governor explained that the government spent more than 4.4 billion naira in 2026 just to pay examination fees for poor students so that money problems would not stop any child from writing the test.
In addition to paying exam fees, the state government built new classrooms, fixed bad school buildings, trained teachers, gave out free uniforms, and provided books to over five million school children in the state.
Speaking about the great news, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf congratulated all the students, their parents, and their teachers for working very hard to bring honor to the state.
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Showing his happiness over the results, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf stated that “this back-to-back performance is an indication that our sustained investment in education is producing measurable results”.
Explaining how the government helped poor children write the test, the governor said “Our government spent more than N4.4bn in 2026 to sponsor candidates for the Senior School Certificate Examination, particularly indigent students, to remove financial barriers to participation”.
Promising that the government will continue to spend money on education, Governor Yusuf added that “we will continue to invest in education because our objective is to build a system that equips our young people with the knowledge and skills required for higher education, employment, innovation and leadership“.
Giving all the praise back to the citizens, the governor said “This achievement belongs to our students, teachers, parents and the good people of Kano State”.
Kano State gave 405.35 billion naira to education in 2026, which is almost 30 per cent of the total state budget.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
