Most of the deaths resulted from a stampede as hundreds of students rushed to escape the blaze through two exits, the Kano state officials said.
Twenty-five others were injured in the fire which broke out as students were sleeping at the government-run girls school in Jogana village, they added.
It is not being treated as suspicious.
Fire-fighters spent seven hours trying to put out the blaze, an eyewitness told the BBC's Hausa service.
The government has closed the boarding school and ordered a full investigation into the fire.
At least seven female students have died after a fire at a boarding school hostel near the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday night, officials say.