Background: Skin fold thickness (SFT) at selected areas offers a simple method of subcutaneous fat assessment and provides a good estimate of obesity and body fat distribution. The triceps SFT has been shown to be one of the best and most popular sites for SFT measurement in children.Objective: To assess the body fat of school adolescents and to comparethe performance of triceps SFT with Bioelectrical impedance method in the detection of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) among the subjectsMethods: The study was cross sectional; involving secondary schoolstudents within Sokoto metropolis. Subjects were selected by a multistagerandom sampling method. Harpenden skin fold caliper (ASSIST Creative Resources Ltd, LL13 9UG, UK) and Tanita Body fat scale (model UM-030, Tanita, UK Ltd; 2004) were used respectively to measure the triceps SFTand body fat content (%) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Results: The mean triceps SFT values were 8.9mm (±4.7) for malesand 12.9mm (±4.6) for the females (p<0.001). Mean % BF values were8.2 ± 4.1% for the males, and 20.0 ± 6.8% for the females (p<0.001).The triceps SFT gave a prevalence of overweight of 2.5%, while that of obesity was 0.8%. With the BIA method, 2.5% of the subjects wereclassified as overweight and 1.7% as obese.Conclusion: Triceps SFT remain a fair surrogate for the assessment ofadiposity, the component of overweight that leads to pathology.Key words: Skin fold thickness, bioelectrical impedance analysis, body fat, obesity, adolescent