As Nigerians anticipate the manifestos of presidential candidates ahead of the January 16, 2027, presidential election, some citizens, especially opposition figures, have slammed the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for allegedly failing to fulfil promises made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the 2023 election.
President Bola Tinubu, who assumed office with his Renewed Hope Agenda, promised to tackle insecurity, revitalise the economy, create jobs, improve electricity supply, reduce poverty and thereby improve the living conditions of all Nigerians.
Although Tinubu and his supporters are claiming that the administration’s economic reforms have recorded significant progress, the opposition, on the other hand, has rejected the claim, arguing that the policies have instead pushed more Nigerians into hardship.
The Tinubu-led administration has claimed that its infrastructure development, investment and social intervention programmes being implemented across parts of the country are game changers and have significantly revived the nation’s economy.
However, the renewed political season has brought old promises back into public debate, with critics questioning whether the benefits of the administration’s policies have reached ordinary Nigerians.
The opposition claimed that the administration’s policies, including the removal of the fuel subsidy and the floating of the local currency, plunged millions of Nigerians into hardship.
According to the IMF’s 2026 Article IV consultation, poverty reached 63% at the national poverty line, while conditions remain difficult for many Nigerians.
Tinubu’s promises in 2022
In 2022, President Tinubu released an 80-page policy document that highlighted an eight-point agenda, raising hopes that the economic hardship caused by policies of the previous government might fade away in no distant time. The manifesto included commitments on jobs, electricity, security, infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors.
In the eight-point agenda contained in his manifesto, Tinubu promised to create millions of jobs for unemployed Nigerian youths while ensuring that other sectors of the nation’s economy were also revived.
Reports indicate that while there have been significant positive changes in parts of the economy, several Nigerians have been plunged into hardship.
Job creation
President Tinubu, in 2022, pledged that if elected Nigerian President, he would “build a Nigeria, especially for our youth, where sufficient jobs with decent wages create a better life”.
He pledged to support Nigerian youths and women by “harnessing emerging sectors such as the digital economy, entertainment and culture, tourism and others to build the Nigeria of tomorrow, today”.
Although statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that Nigeria’s official unemployment rate, which was 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, has dropped to around 4.3% to 4.9% in 2026, opposition parties claimed that unemployment remains a major crisis in the country.
Affordable electricity
In 2022, Tinubu promised to “generate, transmit and distribute sufficient, affordable electricity to give our people the requisite power to enlighten their lives, their homes, and their very dreams”.
During the campaign, the President promised that his administration would provide constant electricity, stating that Nigerians should not vote for him for a second term if they did not have constant electricity supply as promised.
In a video clip which is still going viral, the President was captured telling his supporters that there must be constant electricity supply, stating that a promise made must be a promise kept.
He said, “by all means necessary, you must have electricity and you will not pay for an estimated bill anymore. If I don’t keep the promise and I come back for the second term, don’t vote for me”.
Although the frequent grid failures recorded under previous administrations have been significantly reduced, some Nigerians who spoke with DAILY POST at the weekend dismissed any improvement in electricity supply.
Nigerians have continued to lament poor electricity supply across various parts of the country, with some communities experiencing prolonged periods of total blackout.
Security
Prior to his victory in 2023, Tinubu, in his manifesto, promised to establish a “bold and assertive policy that will create a strong yet adaptive national security architecture and action to obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry, and all other forms of violent extremism from the face of our nation”.
However, the security crisis in the country took another turn for the worse in the last three years of the administration.
No fewer than 750 people were killed by terrorists in 2025, with several other unsuspecting citizens evicted from their ancestral homes due to persistent attacks by terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.
Nigeria was recently ranked the fourth-worst country in the world in terms of the impact of terrorism.
About 12,365 kidnapping incidents have been recorded in the country since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.
A total of 842 people have reportedly been killed across 156 incidents recorded so far this year.
At least nine mass abductions have been recorded in the last three years of the Tinubu-led administration, with 551 schoolchildren and staff kidnapped for ransom.
Some Nigerians who spoke with DAILY POST warned the APC against launching another campaign with what they described as fake promises.
They made Nigerians poor and enriched themselves — ADC chieftain
Speaking in an interview with DAILY POST, the immediate past Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Rivers State, Leader Sampson, said the administration had failed to fulfil any of its promises, alleging that the Renewed Hope Agenda had only impoverished Nigerians while enriching government officials.
“Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda has only succeeded in impoverishing Nigerians. They have only enriched themselves and that’s all about the hope agenda”, he said.
He pointed out that some policies, including the removal of the fuel subsidy, were responsible for the economic hardship bedevilling the masses.
“Look at the issue of fuel subsidy, from the very first day Tinubu came into power, he announced that subsidy was gone and that very day, the petroleum pump price jumped up and fuel stations started shutting down. That is where Nigerians’ problems began till today.
“There is nothing they have done that gave hope to the ordinary Nigerian. This government failed in security. Every day you keep hearing abuse mass abduction killing and all of that.
“They keep saying that they are making progress in security yet we keep seeing more insecurity everyday. The government has done virtually nothing to improve the lives of Nigerians.
“You can’t travel by air because of the hike in airfare prices and you can’t move by road because of insecurity. It is a terrible situation that we have been.
“Tinubu told us that if he cannot provide electricity, we should not vote for him and we are going to do exactly what he said”, Sampson stated.
They want to lie again — Political analyst
Aaron Akogwu, a political analyst and grassroots mobiliser, told DAILY POST that the ruling party has no truth to give.
“You can’t give what you don’t have. APC people have no single truth in their mouths. Like 2Baba said in one of his hit songs, it’s like they want to tell us another story again.
“The campaign is going to be difficult for them because what are they going to say to the people? The promises you made before we brought you in, have you been able to keep them? Are we expecting a new lie?” he questioned.
They only removed fuel, electricity subsidy from the poor and gave to the rich — Isaac Fayose
On his part, Nigerian businessman Prince Isaac Fayose dismissed any improvement in the nation’s economy since Tinubu assumed office, stating that the administration’s policies only favoured the rich.
He alleged that the APC government “removed subsidy from fuel and electricity from the poor and gave it to the rich. At a time, I agreed that subsidy must go but I never knew that they would take the subsidy away and replace it with them living large.
“The subsidy that was supposed to go to the common man is what they are now using to buy jets, that’s what they are now giving to the governors that are not working.
“Despite the subsidy removal, roads to Ekiti, Osun and others are impassable. They are now boasting of cash transfer to the poor. How much is the cash? N5,000 is less than $50. What business can someone do with that?
“Go to the North and see how people are suffering. People that spent billions of naira during the Osun election are now boasting of N50,000 cash transfer. Nigerians need to wake up and take their country back”.
However, the Finance Minister, Taiwo Oyedele, on Saturday described the latest rating of Nigeria’s economic outlook by Moody’s Ratings, one of the world’s biggest credit rating agencies, as an important external validation of the difficult but necessary reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
Moody’s, in the rating released on Friday, upgraded Nigeria’s outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’.
In a statement made available to journalists, the minister said the Federal Government’s next move was to push Nigeria into what he called investment-grade status.
