Assessing What the President Has Achieved and Failed to Deliver Since 2023
As Nigeria 2027 elections approach, it is appropriate to evaluate President Bola Tinubu first-term governance record against the specific promises he made during his 2023 campaign. This report card examines performance across seven key areas: economic growth, inflation control, security, infrastructure, education, healthcare, and anti-corruption. The overall picture is one of bold ambitions paired with deeply inadequate implementation and severe consequences for ordinary Nigerians.
Tinubu 2023 campaign manifesto was titled Renewed Hope, and it promised a Nigeria where economic growth would accelerate, insecurity would be defeated, infrastructure would be rebuilt, and citizens would experience a genuine improvement in living standards. Measuring performance against these promises reveals a significant gap between aspiration and reality across virtually every dimension.
Economy: Reform Shock Without Adequate Cushioning
The Tinubu administration deserves credit for removing the fuel subsidy and unifying the foreign exchange market, two structural reforms that economists had long recommended. However, the failure to implement adequate compensatory measures for vulnerable Nigerians has produced a human cost that cannot be justified on economic grounds alone. Inflation has remained persistently high, real wages have collapsed, and poverty indicators have worsened for the majority of Nigerians.
Economic growth numbers show modest improvement in headline GDP, but this growth has not been inclusive. The gap between the formal economy and the lived reality of ordinary Nigerians has widened considerably. Economic performance earns a C minus: the structural direction is correct, but the implementation has inflicted unnecessary suffering and the promised benefits remain largely invisible to most citizens.
Security: Continued Deterioration Despite Bold Promises
Tinubu promised to dramatically improve security across Nigeria within his first term. The reality has been a continuation of the disturbing security deterioration that characterized the Buhari years. Banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, and the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast have all continued with undiminished intensity. Several high-profile kidnapping incidents involving hundreds of schoolchildren occurred under his watch.
The security sector reform that many hoped Tinubu would prioritize has not materialized. Police reform remains stalled, defense spending has increased without corresponding improvements in capability, and the root causes of insecurity, including poverty, inequality, and governance failure, have been largely ignored. Security performance earns a D: promises were not kept and the situation on the ground has not improved.
Infrastructure and Education: Unfulfilled Commitments
On infrastructure, the Tinubu administration has continued some projects started by previous governments but has not launched the transformative infrastructure program he promised. Power generation capacity has not significantly improved, and Nigerians continue to suffer from chronic electricity shortages that undermine economic productivity and quality of life.
Education performance is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the first term. Despite Nigeria hosting the world largest population of out-of-school children, the Tinubu administration has not made education a visible priority. Funding for basic education has not increased significantly in real terms, and the structural crisis in Nigerian public education has deepened. These failures make a compelling case for why Nigeria needs a different kind of leadership in 2027.
The Case for Change in 2027
A comprehensive assessment of Tinubu first term reveals a government that has made some structurally important decisions but implemented them poorly, failed to deliver on its social contract with ordinary Nigerians, and left the country in a worse condition on most social indicators than it was when he took office. This record makes a powerful argument for change in 2027.
Peter Obi has studied this governance record carefully and his campaign proposals are explicitly designed to address the failures of the Tinubu administration. His emphasis on inclusive economic growth, security sector reform, education investment, and lean governance represents a credible alternative path. Whether Nigerian voters will seize this opportunity for genuine change remains the defining question of 2027.
