NGScorecard

From 2015 to 2023, Nigeria maintained multiple official exchange rates — an investor window, a parallel market rate, and various special rates — creating a rent-seeking economy where access to cheap dollars was a privilege, not a market outcome. The gap between official and parallel rates exceeded 60% by early 2023, deterring foreign investment and distorting trade.

CBN unified all exchange rates into a single market-determined rate on 14 June 2023 — within weeks of inauguration. The naira was devalued sharply but the structural distortion was eliminated. Foreign portfolio investment began returning by Q1 2024.

Nigeria's petrol subsidy had run for decades under successive administrations, costing the federation an estimated ₦4–6 trillion annually by 2022. The NNPC was absorbing the cost off-budget, masking the true fiscal position. Every administration since the 1970s had attempted removal and reversed course under public pressure. The subsidy primarily benefited wealthier urban Nigerians and fuel smugglers, not the poor.

Tinubu ended the subsidy on his inauguration day — 29 May 2023 — with the words 'subsidy is gone.' Pump prices rose from ₦187/litre to over ₦700/litre. The fiscal saving was real but the redistribution to the poor via cash transfers was only partially delivered.

Nigeria's federal judiciary had not received a salary increase since 2008 — a 15-year freeze during which inflation eroded real pay by over 80%. The Chief Justice of Nigeria earned less than many private-sector managers. Judicial officers frequently cited underpayment as a contributor to corruption risks and the difficulty retaining talent on the bench.

Tinubu submitted an executive bill in March 2024. The Judicial Office Holders' Salaries and Allowances Act was signed on 13 August 2024, granting a 300% salary increase. The Chief Justice's annual salary rose to ₦64 million. First revision in 16 years.

The Pension Protection Fund — designed as the safety net for retirees whose employers defaulted — had been established by law in 2014 but never capitalised. Hundreds of thousands of federal retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme were owed arrears stretching back years, and the PTAD lacked the resources to pay them. Police pensioners were among the worst affected.

Tinubu approved a ₦758 billion FGN Bond in February 2025 to settle outstanding pension liabilities. The Pension Protection Fund received its first-ever funding. ₦8.6bn in arrears were disbursed to 148,625 DBS pensioners by June 2025. Pension Boost 1.0 added ₦2.68bn per month in ongoing payments.

Nigerian banks had not been required to recapitalise since the Soludo-era exercise of 2004–2006, which set a then-ambitious ₦25 billion minimum capital floor. Two decades of inflation and naira depreciation had made that threshold trivial. By 2023, the entire Nigerian banking sector's capital base was inadequate to finance a $1 trillion economy or absorb major shocks — a systemic risk most analysts had flagged for years.

CBN announced new capital floors in March 2024 — ₦500bn for international banks, ₦200bn for national, ₦50bn for regional. The recapitalisation exercise concluded end-March 2026. Nigerian banks collectively raised ₦4.65 trillion in fresh capital; 33 lenders met the thresholds.

Nigeria's 1999 Constitution vested all policing powers in the Federal Government, creating a single 370,000-officer force for a country of 220 million people. State governors had zero command authority over police in their states, making rapid local response impossible. Calls for state police had been made since the early 2000s but every federal administration blocked the constitutional amendment needed.

Tinubu signed a constitutional amendment in July 2024 enabling states to establish their own police forces — the most significant policing reform since 1999. However, most states had not yet operationalised their forces as of early 2026 due to funding and recruitment gaps. The structural barrier has been removed; implementation is the remaining challenge.

Nigeria's national minimum wage had been ₦30,000/month since 2019 — a figure set before the COVID shock, the 2023 subsidy removal, and a naira devaluation that cut real purchasing power by more than half. By mid-2023, ₦30,000 was worth approximately $20/month. The Buhari administration left this unrevised in its final years despite NLC pressure.

After prolonged negotiations and a near-miss general strike, Tinubu signed the National Minimum Wage Act in July 2024, raising the floor to ₦70,000/month. A more than 2× increase. Labour had demanded ₦250,000; the compromise was accepted and enacted into law.

Nigeria had no federal student loan programme prior to 2023. University students from poor families had no formal credit mechanism — dropout due to inability to pay fees was endemic. Attempts to legislate a student loan scheme had been made and stalled multiple times in the National Assembly over two decades. Nigeria was one of the few countries of its size with no state-backed higher education finance system.

The Student Loans Act was signed on 12 June 2023. NELFUND was established and began disbursements in 2024. By 2025, over ₦50 billion had been disbursed, initially to federal polytechnic students. Coverage is still limited — many state university students cannot yet access the fund — but the structural gap has been closed for the first time.