Akwa Ibom State disputes 36th place in NECO ranking — Premium Times Nigeria
Authorities in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom State have disputed data placing the state 36th among the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory based on the results of the National Examinations Council (NECO) examination in 2026. Officials said the results from 83 of the state’s 214 public-school examination centres have not yet been released due to a review of their accreditation status.
As Premium Times reports, the publication obtained data from NECO showing that 7,754 of 20,720 candidates from Akwa Ibom earned at least five credit-level grades, including in English language and mathematics. This amounts to 37.42% and places the state second from last, ahead only of Sokoto, which recorded 26.82%.
Statements by state authorities
The state commissioner for information, Aniekan Umana, and the commissioner for education, Ubong Umoh, argue that the incomplete results could significantly affect Akwa Ibom’s overall figure. At the same time, according to the publication, as of the time of publication the authorities had not provided the NECO document they cited, nor data on the number of candidates at the 83 centres or a list of those institutions.
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The Akwa Ibom government also said that official data allegedly place Kano, Lagos and Oyo states in the top three positions. Premium Times notes that this comparison is based on the absolute number of successful candidates rather than their share within each state. Kano had 74,413 candidates who met the requirement of five credit-level grades, but the share of successful participants there was 45.85%, corresponding to 31st place.
Published NECO results
NECO Registrar Dantani Wushishi announced the results on September 24 in Minna. According to his data, 1,371,992 candidates took the examination, of whom 804,948, or 58.67%, obtained at least five credit-level grades including English language and mathematics.
During the public announcement of the results, NECO did not report a delay in data from 83 Akwa Ibom centres due to accreditation issues. It also remains unclear whether the results from these centres were included in the published state figures. NECO spokesperson Abdulaziz Sani told the publication that he would provide comment after returning to the country next week.
