SERAP Drags RMAFC To Court Over Proposed Salary Hike For Tinubu, Governors, Lawmakers

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) over its proposal to increase salaries for political and public office holders, including the president, vice-president, governors, deputies, and lawmakers.

RMAFC had recently disclosed plans for the review, arguing that the current salaries of top office holders were “paltry.”

In a statement on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, confirmed that the suit, numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja. A hearing date is yet to be fixed.

SERAP is seeking a declaration that the planned salary increase is unlawful and unconstitutional, insisting it violates the Nigerian Constitution and the RMAFC Act. The organisation is also asking the court to stop the commission from going ahead with the pay rise and instead order a downward review of salaries and allowances for political leaders to reflect the nation’s economic realities.

“The imminent pay rise for political office holders is a gross misuse of the RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates, especially at a time when over 133 million Nigerians live in poverty and many states cannot pay workers’ salaries and pensions,” SERAP said.

The group argued that RMAFC’s role does not give it unlimited discretion to raise salaries arbitrarily, adding that prioritising politicians’ pay over public welfare undermines democracy, fairness, and equality.

It further recalled a 2021 judgment by Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which ordered RMAFC to review and reduce National Assembly members’ salaries to reflect the country’s economic conditions.

SERAP accused the commission of acting in favour of political elites at the expense of ordinary Nigerians and urged the government to cut excessive allowances and pensions for political office holders instead.

The case was filed on behalf of SERAP by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Oluwakemi Oni, and Andrew Nwankwo.