Presidency Salary Increase: SERAP Sues RMAFC
A lawsuit against the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has been initiated by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) over the former’s proposal for an increase in the salaries of political and public office holders.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu in the previous month had raised concern over what the Presidency and other public office holders take home as a monthly salary.
Shehu had described their take home as “paltry” thereby pushing for an increase.
This includes the President, Vice President, Governors, their deputies, and members of the National Assembly.
Shehu mentioned 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.
Reacting to Shehu’s proposal, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare on Sunday said in a statement 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.
SERAP wants the court to declare that the proposed salary hike for politicians is 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.
Oluwadare said,
“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,”
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.
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