The purpose of this study was to investigate ?Influence of Depression on the Academic Performance among Secondary School Student in Kaduna State Nigeria. Five objectives, research questions, and hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive Survey design was used to study a sample size of 777 secondary school students purposely selected from six educational zones. A close ended questionnaire and a researcher designed academic performance test were used to obtain responses from the subjects. Data collected for this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages, mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r) and Analysis of Variance ANOVA tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The findings showed that significant relationship exists between depression and academic performance among secondary school student in Kaduna State, (r =-0.723, p<0.05), significant relationship exist between depression and academic performance among male secondary school students in Kaduna State,( r =-0.738 p < 0.05) and also significant relationship exist between depression and academic performance among female secondary school students in Kaduna State, (r =-0.827 p < 0.05) similarly, the result showed that significant difference exist in the academic performance of students with different age bracket (f = 11.152 p <0.05) and significant difference exist in the academic performance of secondary school students from different home background in Kaduna State (f = 4.103, p < 0.05). On the basis of the result, recommendations were made among which are; professional psychologist and counselor should render psychological interventions using cognitive behavioral techniques to counsel secondary school students who are depressed so as to help improve their academic performance. Similarly, Schools psychologist and counselor should target depression by teaching coping strategies and this should be targeted towards those female students who are at risk for depression.