By Muhammad Ahmad Kano
A claim currently circulating on social media that the “University of Paris” has ranked Kano State Government as the highest spending state across West Africa has been found to be unsubstantiated.
Recent investigations have shown that there is no verifiable record to support the viral claim that the “University of Paris” ranked Kano State as the highest spender on education in West Africa.
Checks of official websites and publications of Sorbonne University, Université Paris Cité, and other institutions under the University of Paris system show no such ranking, report, or statement.
According to investigation, there is no academic paper or press release from any Paris-based university mentions Kano State in relation to government expenditure across West Africa.
A review of the latest 2026 rankings shows that mentions of Nigeria focus on universities such as Bayero University Kano, which was ranked 4th in West Africa, and not on state government spending.
An educationist Hassan Usman has said that global comparative data on government spending across nations are usually issued by international bodies such as UNESCO, the World Bank, or the IMF through their education, finance, and governance reports.
According to him, University rankings released by French and international academic bodies are typically limited to academic performance, research output, and institutional reputation.
Usman urged members of the public, especially journalists, to always verify information from credible sources before sharing to avoid the spread of misinformation and fake news.
However, a check of recent UNESCO publications, including the Global Education Monitoring Report and Institute for Statistics database, showed that no such ranking placing Kano State or any Nigerian state as the highest spender in West Africa has been released.
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