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The relationship between the degree of hyperglycaemia and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity was investigated in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. The study subjects consisted of thirty patients with T2D between the ages of 30-50 years who were divided into low glycaemia group (LGDG; n = 14), with fasting blood glucose (FBG) level ≤ 7 mM and high glycaemia group (HGDG; n = 16)with FBG level > 7 mM. Ten apparently healthy age and sex-matched individuals served as the normal control group (NCG; n = 10). The FBG, G6PD activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level were determined for all subjects. The HGDG had a significant ( P < 0.05) 3-fold higher FBG level (12.78 ± 3.10 mM) compared to NCG (4.62 ± 0.55 mM) while the LGDG had an insignificant ( P > 0.05) FBG level (6.10 ± 0.76 mM) compared to the NCG. Conversely, the HGDG had a significantly ( P < 0.05) 2-fold lower plasma G6PD activity (24.85 ± 10.72 mU/gHb) compared with the NCG (55.21 ± 10.20 mU/gHb) with no significant difference in the plasma G6PD activity of the LGDG (55.25 ± 18.05 mU/gHb) compared to the NCG. Correlation analyses revealed a strong negative correlation ( r = − 0.75) between FBG level and plasma G6PD activity in the HGDG only and not in the LGDG. The data suggests that reduced G6PD activity in the plasma of type 2 diabetic patients in Kano, Nigeria, is mainly associated with poor glycemic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]