A former political adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has said the administration has failed to meet expectations on governance and has left millions of Nigerians worse off, two years into the presidency.

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, also a former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, made the remarks on Tuesday during a televised interview in which he criticised the government’s economic policies, especially the removal of the petrol subsidy, for worsening the quality of life.

“Clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance,” Baba-Ahmed said. “If the measure of a government is the way citizens live, then this administration has failed.”

He said the decision to scrap the subsidy in May 2023 had a far-reaching impact on living costs but noted it was unrealistic to reverse. He urged the president to address what he described as “wastage of resources” at the state and local levels, where funds saved from the subsidy removal are meant to be channelled.

Calling for stronger accountability measures, Baba-Ahmed accused all levels of government of widespread corruption and misuse of public funds. “So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on,” he said, urging President Tinubu to use his authority to ensure that funds sent to state governors, especially those from his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are properly used.

He said Nigeria’s leadership since the return to democracy in 1999 had consistently fallen short, describing each successive administration as worse than the one before it. “Jonathan governed badly; President Buhari didn’t govern at all,” he said. “Now, you have a president who started on a faulty foot and says: ‘It is my turn’.”

Baba-Ahmed said democracy in Nigeria had failed to produce leaders who serve in the public interest, blaming the crisis on political elites who treat power as a personal entitlement. He warned that unless this culture changes, progress will remain out of reach regardless of economic reforms or international support.

The presidency has yet to respond to the comments.

President Tinubu, who took office in May 2023, has defended the removal of the fuel subsidy as necessary to stabilise public finances. His administration has also cited World Bank data and economic ratings as evidence of ongoing reforms.

However, with inflation still high and living standards falling, public dissatisfaction has grown. According to recent World Bank estimates, over 31 percent of Nigerians live below the international poverty line of $2.15 a day.