THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has taken legal action against the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) over its proposal to raise the salaries of political and public office holders, including the President, Vice President, Governors, their deputies, and members of the national assembly.
The ICIR reported in August that RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, disclosed the commission’s proposal to increase, claiming that the salaries for these office holders are “paltry.”
Shehu stated that President Bola Tinubu currently earns N1.5 million monthly, a figure he described as laughable for a nation of over 200 million people, adding that the amount has remained unchanged since 2008.
In a statement issued on Sunday, September 7, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, confirmed that RMAFC had been taken to court, though a hearing date is yet to be set.
He explained that in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, filed last week at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to decide whether RMAFC’s proposed salary increase for the president, vice president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers is not unlawful, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with the rule of law.
He said that SERAP is urging the court to declare that the proposed salary hike for politicians as unlawful, unconstitutional, and contrary to the rule of law, as it breaches the provisions of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and the RMAFC Act.
“An order of injunction restraining RMAFC, its agents and privies from taking any step to review upward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria.
“An order directing RMAFC, its agents to review downward the salaries and allowances of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria to reflect the economic realities in the country,” Oluwadare added.
In the suit, SERAP contended that preventing the commission from arbitrarily raising the salaries of these persons would protect legitimate public interest.
“Reviewing downward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers would be entirely consistent and compatible with the Nigerian Constitution, the country’s international human rights obligations, and the current economic realities in the country.
“The imminent pay rise for political office holders is a gross violation of the provisions of chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution relating to fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy, and the country’s international human rights obligations.
“The combined provisions of chapter 2, and chapter 4 on fundamental rights particularly section 42 give meaning and substance to the socio-economic rights of Nigerians and their right to equality and non-discrimination,” Oluwadare added.
The ICIR reported that prominent Nigerians, including human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, criticised the proposed salary hike for political office holders, calling it grossly insensitive in light of Nigeria’s prevailing economic hardship.
Falana, a senior advocate, took a swipe at RMAFC accusing it of misplaced priorities and neglecting the daily hardships faced by millions of Nigerians.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was among the first group of Nigerians to oppose the plan.
The NLC cited growing inequality, and the hidden perks politicians enjoy as reason why such plan should be dropped. It said workers earned only N70,000 as minimum wage monthly, which did not reflect the hardship faced in the country.
Similarly, former presidential candidate and Labour Party leader, Peter Obi, criticised the proposal describing it as a “shameless grab for more” at the expense of Nigeria’s struggling majority.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.