The Kano State Government has awarded contracts valued at N27.8 billion to build Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres across all 44 of the state's local government areas (LGAs). The programme will put roughly 13,200 computers into service as Nigeria works toward a 2027 deadline for fully computer-based testing.

Mohammed Tajo-Othman, the state's Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, disclosed the contract award at a ceremony held at the ministry in Kano, as reported by Nairametrics, citing the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Each centre is to be equipped with 300 computers, a high-capacity internet server network, and an uninterrupted power supply backed by the national grid, solar energy and standby generators — a layered configuration intended to keep examination halls running through the supply interruptions that regularly affect Nigeria's national grid. The project is scheduled for completion within 16 to 18 weeks.

Contractors and oversight

Six firms will execute the project: Odaleg Properties and Constructions Limited, Aytaam Construction Limited, Trusted Development, Kodak Prime, Vind R&D Partnership Limited and Cornerstone Construction & Engineering Limited. Vind R&D Partnership Limited will additionally serve as project consultant, responsible for supervision and quality assurance, while teams from the local government areas and the ministry are to conduct regular inspections to ensure compliance with required standards.

According to Tajo-Othman, the centres will expand access to digital learning, e-examinations and technology skills training for young people at the grassroots, while also supporting computer-based examinations administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO). JAMB has conducted its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination entirely on computer since 2015, while WAEC and NECO have only recently begun moving their papers to computer-based formats, placing a premium on capacity that states like Kano can supply. Kano regularly records some of the highest UTME candidature figures in the country, and locating a centre in every LGA rather than concentrating them in the state capital shortens the distance candidates must travel on examination days. The initiative, he said, is expected to create jobs while improving access to digital infrastructure across the 44 LGAs.

Kano joins the national CBT push

The state's rollout aligns with a Federal Government plan, announced in 2025, to transition Nigeria's examination system fully to computer-based testing by 2027. Minister of Education Dr Tunji Alausa announced the plan during the inauguration of the Committee on Improvement of Quality Examinations in Abuja. The committee was tasked with standardising examination practices and addressing exam malpractice, leakages and candidate swapping, in which a substitute sits an examination in another candidate's place. If the 16-to-18-week schedule holds, the Kano centres would enter service well ahead of that deadline, and how quickly WAEC and NECO widen their own computer-based offerings is a key factor in how much use the facilities see in the intervening period.

The ICT-CBT award is the latest in a series of infrastructure approvals by the Kano State Government in 2026. In April, the state approved N21.29 billion for the rehabilitation of the Tamburawa and Challawa water treatment plants, comprising N9.9 billion for Tamburawa's plant and pump station and N11.39 billion for Challawa's facility and the restoration of the Goron Dutse reservoirs.

In February, Kano approved over N6.9 billion for road, drainage, water supply, education and entrepreneurship projects, including N2.6 billion for the Yandodo–Mai-Allo Road and N358.5 million for stormwater drainage in Kano Municipal.