The 57-year-old took Buhari and his vice-president-elect Yemi Osinbajo on a tour of the presidential villa, Aso Rock, in Abuja, before submitting his formal handover notes.
Buhari, 72, defeated Jonathan in March 28 elections — the first time in Nigeria’s history that an opposition candidate had beaten a sitting president.
He takes over as head of Africa’s most populous nation, top economy and leading oil producer as it limps back to normality after fuel shortages that brought the country to a near standstill.
Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) accused Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of orchestrating the fuel crisis to scupper the transition. READ: Ruto heads to Nigeria instead of Uhuru amid delegation drama.
But Jonathan told him: “Our administration has done its best to intervene robustly and impact positively on key aspects of our national life.”
Expectations are high, some say too high, that Buhari can fix Nigeria, with corruption seemingly entrenched in public life and decades of mismanagement.