By Yarima Haruna, Birnin Kebbi
The All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) has called for urgent capacity building and stronger collaboration to prepare schools in the North-West for digital assessment and modern school management.
The call was made on Wednesday, 7 January, 2026, in Sokoto at the opening of the Annual Mandatory Continuing Professional Training (MCPT) Workshop for secondary school principals in the zone.
Speaking at the event, the National President of ANCOPSS, Dr Robert Okorie Ikewachukwu, represented by the North-West Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Lawal Ahmad, said the transition to Computer-Based Tests (CBT) by examination bodies such as WAEC and NECO demands deliberate preparation by school leaders.
According to him, the workshop, themed “Redefining Quality Education through Technology-Driven Assessment,” was designed to equip principals with the skills and strategies needed to manage digital learning and assessment challenges in Nigerian schools.
“CBT has come to stay. Principals must be adequately prepared to lead their schools through this transition in line with global best practices,” he said.
Dr Ikewachukwu commended the Sokoto State Government for supporting the training and for prioritising education as a tool for societal and national development.
Earlier, the Sokoto State President of ANCOPSS and Principal of Sultan Abubakar College, Sokoto, Ikililu Muhammad, said the MCPT remains one of the association’s flagship programmes aimed at improving leadership, professionalism and accountability among school principals.
He highlighted several interventions of the Sokoto State Government in the education sector, including the renovation of secondary schools, improved feeding for boarding students, monthly maintenance grants to principals and the inclusion of principals on the Teachers Service Board.
Ikililu also appealed to the state government to address outstanding challenges facing principals, including career progression, welfare and service elongation for teachers.
Declaring the workshop open, Governor Ahmed Aliyu, represented by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Professor Ahmed Ladan Ala, reiterated the state’s commitment to education, noting that between 15 and 20 per cent of the 2026 budget has been allocated to the sector in line with UNESCO recommendations.
He described principals as critical drivers of educational transformation and urged them to embrace innovation and digital assessment with confidence.
The Chairman of the Sokoto State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Nagari Tambuwal, also used the occasion to call for population control, revealing that over 25,000 applicants recently competed for 4,000 teaching positions in the state.
The three-day MCPT workshop brought together principals and education stakeholders from across the North-West to exchange ideas on leadership, digital assessment and strategies for improving learning outcomes.
At the workshop the leadership of ANCOPS Kebbi state led by the state president, principal Alhaji Ibrahim Kangiwa highlighted the need to prepare students in both urban and rural areas students to acquire the basic computer knowledge to enable them meet the requirements for CBT.
He explained that at the end of the workshop principals who gathered will be armed with knowledge which they will pass down to students in various schools.
