NGScorecard

The Finance Ministry and PPPRA announced the immediate, full removal of the petrol subsidy, ending years of below-market pricing without a transition period or advance public communication campaign.

Pump prices roughly doubled overnight from ₦65 to ₦141 per litre, triggering the nationwide 'Occupy Nigeria' protests and an eight-day general strike. Facing sustained pressure, the government partially reversed the policy on 16 January 2012, settling the price at ₦97 — a compromise that held for most of the remaining term.

Declared a state of emergency across the three North-Eastern states worst affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, authorising an expanded military presence, curfews, and special security operations under the Joint Task Force.

Military operations initially recaptured some territory and disrupted Boko Haram's communications and logistics networks. However, the insurgency adapted and expanded rather than being defeated, and by the state of emergency's final renewal in late 2014 the group controlled more territory than when it was first declared, culminating in the Baga massacre in January 2015.

Directed that the fiscal savings retained from the partial fuel subsidy reversal be channelled into a dedicated programme — SURE-P — funding infrastructure (roads, rail, Niger Delta projects) and social safety-net schemes (maternal and child health, graduate internships, public works) to demonstrate a tangible benefit from the subsidy changes.

SURE-P financed visible projects including sections of federal roads and a maternal and child health programme, and its graduate internship scheme placed tens of thousands of young Nigerians in temporary work. However, disbursement was criticised as slow and opaque, and the programme was wound down and folded into other initiatives under the succeeding administration without a full public accounting of its total impact.

Directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises to complete the transfer of 15 of the 17 unbundled PHCN successor companies — generation and distribution firms — to their winning private core investors, formally ending direct federal government operation of the bulk of the power sector.

Ownership passed to private investors as planned, representing the culmination of a reform process begun under Obasanjo. However, the new owners inherited undercapitalised networks and chronic gas supply shortages, and average power delivered to the grid did not improve materially in the remaining eighteen months of the term.

Inaugurated a 492-member National Conference to deliberate on constitutional reform, resource control, devolution of powers, and state creation — responding to decades of calls, particularly from southern and Middle Belt groups, for a fundamental renegotiation of the federation.

The conference produced a detailed report in August 2014 with wide-ranging recommendations. Jonathan received the report but never transmitted its recommendations to the National Assembly as a formal legislative package before the end of his term, and the document was effectively shelved without implementation.

Signed into law a bill criminalising same-sex marriage, civil unions, and the operation or support of gay clubs and organisations, with penalties of up to 14 years' imprisonment for entering a same-sex marriage.

The law was popular domestically but drew strong international condemnation from Western governments and human rights organisations, who warned it would fuel violence and discrimination against LGBT Nigerians. Some Western donors publicly reviewed or threatened to reduce aid ties in response, though the law itself remained in force and was enforced sporadically.

Directed the immediate suspension of Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, days after he told the Senate that NNPC had failed to remit approximately $20 billion in oil revenue, citing unrelated allegations of financial recklessness and misconduct at the CBN.

Sanusi was replaced on an acting basis and did not return before his five-year term expired that June. A Federal High Court later ordered his reinstatement pending the outcome of related litigation, but the order was effectively overtaken by the natural expiry of his tenure. The episode drew widespread criticism as retaliation against a whistleblower rather than a good-faith regulatory action.

On the recommendation of the national security adviser, the government directed INEC to postpone the general election originally scheduled for 14 February 2015 by six weeks, to 28 March 2015, citing the need for the military to conduct a security operation against Boko Haram in the North-East beforehand.

The postponement was widely criticised by the opposition as a delay tactic to buy time for the ruling party, given Jonathan's standing in pre-election polling. The election ultimately proceeded on the rescheduled date and was won by the opposition's Muhammadu Buhari, with Jonathan conceding promptly — reducing, in retrospect, concerns that the delay had been intended to manipulate the outcome.