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From emergency powers to education reforms, passport fee hikes and security initiatives, 2025 was a year in which government decisions reverberated across Nigeria.
Some sparked controversy, others offered hope, but all left a mark on the nation.
Here are the 10 biggest government actions that shaped the year 2025.
- Emergency Rule in Rivers State
In March 2025, the Federal Government declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending the governor, deputy governor and all state lawmakers for six months. The move followed a protracted political crisis in the state, during which the governor dissolved the state legislature.
Observers attributed part of the conflict to a bitter power struggle involving former Rivers governor‑turned‑FCT minister Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Under emergency rule, a retired Navy vice-admiral, Ibok-Ete Ekwe, was appointed as Sole Administrator. The government said the intervention was needed to restore order and protect vital oil assets.
By September, the Federal Government lifted the emergency after six months, reinstating the suspended officials and returning the state to constitutional governance. The lifting came after a reported improvement in cooperation among political stakeholders.
Opposition politicians described the decision as an attempt to override the people’s mandate, arguing that the president had no constitutional right to remove elected officials simply by declaring an emergency. Though the emergency rule was lifted after six months and elected officials reinstated, the controversy left many questioning federal overreach.
- New national school curriculum for 2025/2026 session
In 2025, the federal government rolled out a revised national curriculum for primary and secondary schools ahead of the 2025/2026 academic year. The new syllabus includes expanded vocational, technical, and digital-skills training. This reflected a shift toward skills-based education.
The new syllabus also includes the introduction or strengthening of national history, heritage, and civic studies components. One of the biggest shifts is the introduction of vocational and trade‑oriented subjects, even at basic and junior‑secondary levels.
For many parents, teachers, and students, the curriculum change was among the most visible education reforms of the year. This prompted debates on whether schools are ready to deliver practical training and whether resources are in place for effective implementation.
- Passport Fee Hike to ₦100,000
The Nigeria Immigration Service announced in August that the standard five-year passport would now cost ₦100,000, while the ten-year passport would be ₦200,000. Previously, these passports cost ₦50,000 and ₦100,000, respectively. The change took effect on September 1, 2025.
NIS explained that the increase was needed to fund automated processing, reduce issuance delays, and strengthen passport security. Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the reforms would allow applicants to receive passports within a week. This is a dramatic improvement over the months‑long delays previously common.
Despite government assurances, Nigerians expressed frustration as many described the move as arbitrary and urged the government to provide exemptions or subsidies for low-income citizens. Labour and civil society organisations, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, condemned the increase as “exploitative,” especially at a time of economic hardship and inflation.
- Nationwide security emergency and mass recruitment of police and forest guards
In November, faced with rising abductions, banditry, and insurgency, the government declared a nationwide security emergency. It announced the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers and authorised the deployment of forest guards to tackle armed groups hiding in remote areas.
President Bola Tinubu said the move was imperative to protect lives and curb insurgency before it spreads further, calling on security agencies to prioritise rescue operations and secure vulnerable zones, including schools, places of worship and rural communities.
The declaration reflects mounting public concern over nationwide insecurity, a top issue on the minds of many Nigerians at year-end and signifies a shift toward a more aggressive federal security posture. Whether the new recruits and forest-guard deployment will sustainably improve security remains to be seen.
- Tax Overhaul
In June 2025, the president signed four sweeping tax reform Bills into law — including the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025 (NRS) and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.
These laws repealed and consolidated multiple outdated tax statutes, repealed complex overlapping tax laws, and established a new, centralised revenue-collecting body.
The move is meant to simplify tax compliance, broaden the tax base, and reduce leakage. This shift could alter how businesses operate and how public finances are generated.
- Nigeria finally moves to fill ambassadorial posts
After more than two years of delay, President Bola Tinubu, in November 2025, submitted the names of three non‑career ambassadors to the Senate for confirmation, including Kayode Are, Aminu Dalhatu, and Ayodele Oke.
The move ends a prolonged diplomatic vacuum in which most Nigerian embassies and high commissions were led by chargés d’affaires rather than formally appointed ambassadors.
The delay had been widely criticised. Political observers, diaspora groups, and even opposition parties warned that the absence of ambassadors] weakened Nigeria’s voice internationally, hindered consular services, and negatively affected trade, investment, and bilateral relations.
While the confirmation process is still underway, this decision marks a critical institutional move, signalling the government’s renewed focus on foreign policy and international engagement after years of underrepresentation on the global stage.
- Tinubu replaces top service chiefs
In October 2025, President Tinubu carried out a sweeping overhaul of Nigeria’s military leadership — replacing most of the top service chiefs in a bold effort to reorient the nation’s security architecture.
Under the shake-up:
Olufemi Oluyede — previously Chief of Army Staff — was appointed Chief of Defence Staff, replacing Christopher Musa.
Waidi Shaibu became Chief of Army Staff; S.K. Aneke was named Chief of Air Staff; and Idi Abbas assumed the post of Chief of Naval Staff.
One senior position, Chief of Defence Intelligence — held by E.A.P. Undiendeye — was retained.
According to the presidency, the reshuffle was intended to strengthen Nigeria’s national security architecture.
The shake-up came at a turbulent time for Nigeria — with persistent violence, insurgency, banditry, and unrest across multiple regions. Many saw the leadership change as a strong signal that the government was serious about recalibrating security strategies to match evolving threats.
- Maryam Sanda case — Clemency controversy
In October 2025, the federal government initially included Maryam Sanda on a broad clemency list — along with about 174 other convicts — granting her “mercy” for the 2020 conviction of culpable homicide. Sanda had been sentenced to death by hanging for the killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, following a domestic dispute in 2017.
The announcement triggered immediate, widespread public outrage. The family of the deceased condemned the decision. They condemned the idea that Sanda could “walk free” after taking a life, calling it a deep wound reopened for them.
Opposition figures and civil society voices added their voices, warning that pardoning a capital offence convict set a dangerous precedent and risked undermining public trust in justice.
Facing the backlash, the presidency re-reviewed the clemency list. By late October 2025, Sanda was removed from the outright pardon list; instead, her death sentence was commuted to a 12-year jail term.
The final clemency exercise saw the list of beneficiaries trimmed significantly, with many convicted for serious crimes — including homicide, kidnapping, drug trafficking, arms offences — deleted
- Pardons & Honours: 2025’s Reckoning With History and Mercy
In October 2025, Tinubu exercised his constitutional prerogative of mercy — granting a wave of pardons and clemencies – while also awarding national honours.
Among those posthumously pardoned were prominent historical figures widely regarded as national icons: Herbert Macaulay — a pioneer of Nigerian nationalism whose 1913 colonial-era conviction had long tainted his legacy — and Mamman Jiya Vatsa, a military officer and poet executed in 1986, who many believe was wrongfully condemned.
The clemency extended to members of the Ogoni Nine — including Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were executed by a military tribunal in 1995 for their activism against environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. Their pardon was hailed by supporters as a symbolic restoration of dignity and a formal repudiation of past injustices.
Beyond posthumous cases, the clemency list included living convicts — from those convicted for non-violent offences to some serving long terms — many of whom reportedly showed good conduct, remorse, or rehabilitation.
In total, the pardon and clemency exercise covered 175 beneficiaries, combining full pardons, sentence commutations, reduced jail terms, and mercy for convicts, former convicts and exonerated deceased persons.
- NELFUND 2025: Student Loans, Opportunities and Oversight Challenges
In 2025, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund continued its push to provide financial support to students in tertiary institutions, making tangible impacts on tuition payments and student upkeep, even as controversies tested public trust in the system.
By March 2025, NELFUND had disbursed ₦45.1 billion in student loans across the country, reaching thousands of undergraduates and covering both tuition fees and living allowances. By May, total disbursement rose to ₦56.85 billion, benefitting 298,124 students in 198 tertiary institutions.
The fund also successfully completed the 2024/2025 loan cycle, closing applications on September 30, 2025, and opening a new window for returning and newly admitted students from October 23, 2025, to January 31, 2026.
The loans were split between tuition fees paid directly to institutions and allowances to support student living costs, providing relief to households struggling with the rising cost of education.
