The Akwa Ibom State Government has disputed a report by PREMIUM TIMES that ranked the state 36th among all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in the 2026 National Examinations Council (NECO) Senior School Certificate Examination. The government has not yet shared the official exam data that it claims contradicts this ranking.
In a statement from the Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, and in comments made by the Commissioner for Education, Ubong Umoh, they claimed that the report was false. They argued that NECO had not released results from 83 out of 214 public school examination centres in the state.
Despite repeated requests from PREMIUM TIMES for the official NECO data that the government used for its response, the state government has not provided this information. They have not shared the performance figures they claim were given by NECO or the list of the 83 centres.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained performance data from NECO and reported the figures, including Akwa Ibom's results alongside other states in the South-south and South-east regions. The report showed that 7,754 out of 20,720 candidates from Akwa Ibom scored at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics, which is 37.42 per cent. This placed Akwa Ibom 36th, just ahead of Sokoto, which had 26.82 per cent.
Other Media Outlets Reported Similar NECO Figures
The figures reported by PREMIUM TIMES are not unique to the newspaper. Other respected media outlets, such as the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), BusinessDay, Punch, Nigerian Television Authority, and Channels Television, also released figures from the 2026 NECO exam after the council made the results public.
For example, BusinessDay reported that Abia State had the highest percentage of candidates meeting the five-credit benchmark at 81.78 per cent, followed by Ebonyi at 81.03 per cent and Ekiti at 77.68 per cent. They also noted that Kano State, despite having the most candidates meeting the benchmark, was ranked 31st based on percentage.
PREMIUM TIMES later analyzed the state-by-state data and published the full ranking based on the percentage of candidates who met the five-credit benchmark, rather than the total number of successful candidates. BusinessDay and ICIR also included Akwa Ibom in their analyses, stating that it had 37.42 per cent, with 7,754 out of 20,720 candidates meeting the benchmark.
According to BusinessDay, NECO itself announced that its detailed statistical tables included state and geopolitical-zone rankings and highlighted Akwa Ibom's position in the South-south region.
What NECO Announced
NECO Registrar, Dantani Wushishi, announced the 2026 results in Minna on September 24. He reported that 1,371,992 candidates sat for the exam, with 804,948, or 58.67 per cent, obtaining at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics. Additionally, 1,162,118 candidates, or 84.70 per cent, secured five credits regardless of their performance in English and Mathematics.
NECO also mentioned that 1,406 candidates were involved in examination malpractice, a drop from 3,878 in 2025. During the announcement, there was no mention that results from 83 examination centres in Akwa Ibom were still pending due to accreditation issues.
It is still unclear if the 83 centres mentioned by the Akwa Ibom Government were excluded from the state-level figures obtained by PREMIUM TIMES or if their results were held back for other reasons.
Government Changes the Basis of Comparison
In its response, the Akwa Ibom Government claimed that the chart used by PREMIUM TIMES was not an official NECO document. They also stated that NECO's official data ranked Kano, Lagos, and Oyo as first, second, and third, respectively.
However, this claim seems to mix two different ways of presenting the exam results. Kano did have the largest number of candidates who scored at least five credits, with 74,413. Lagos followed with 72,496, and Oyo had 55,543.
But the ranking by PREMIUM TIMES was based on the percentage of candidates who met the benchmark in each state, not just the number of successful candidates. On that score, Abia had 81.78 per cent, Ebonyi 81.03 per cent, and Ekiti 77.68 per cent. Kano, with a much larger candidate pool, scored 45.85 per cent and was ranked 31st.
Akwa Ibom’s Unanswered 83-Centre Claim
The main issue raised by the Akwa Ibom Government is different. Commissioner Umanah stated that results from 83 of the 214 examination centres in the state were still being withheld while NECO finished sorting and verifying the accreditation status of those centres.
Commissioner Umoh also echoed this claim on XL FM radio, saying the results were still "trickling in" and that accreditation issues were not yet resolved. He suggested that the outstanding candidates could significantly affect the state’s overall performance.
However, the government has not revealed how many candidates are involved from the 83 centres. They also have not identified these centres, their locations, the number of candidates at each centre, the specific accreditation issues, or when NECO is expected to release the results.
These details are crucial since the state’s argument depends on the idea that the 83 centres contain enough outstanding candidates to change the reported 37.42 per cent performance. Without knowing how many candidates are affected, it is hard to verify the state’s claim.
Government Yet to Provide Alternative Figures
After the government’s statement, PREMIUM TIMES asked Umanah and Umoh to provide the official NECO document they used to dispute the newspaper’s report. The newspaper also sought the exact number of Akwa Ibom candidates whose results have been released, how many are still pending, the performance rate based on released results, and the NECO document that contradicts the PREMIUM TIMES report.
PREMIUM TIMES also requested the complete list of the 83 centres, their locations, and the number of affected candidates. Neither commissioner responded to these requests before this report was published.
The two officials did not answer calls or media inquiries sent via WhatsApp. PREMIUM TIMES also reached out to NECO spokesperson, Abdulazeez Sanni, asking whether Akwa Ibom's results were complete, if there were outstanding results from 83 centres, how many candidates were affected, why the results were withheld, and whether NECO's official data placed Kano, Lagos, and Oyo first, second, and third by performance.
Sanni, who said he was out of the country, promised to reply after returning the following week. NECO has not provided PREMIUM TIMES with the requested clarification as of the time of this report.
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