SERAP to RMAFC: Cut Politicians’ Pay, Don’t Raise It

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

RMAFC recently disclosed that it was proposing a salary increment for these categories of office holders, describing their current pay as “paltry.”

In a statement on Sunday, SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, confirmed that the commission has been dragged before the Federal High Court in Abuja, though no hearing date has been fixed.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, seeks a judicial declaration that the planned pay rise is unlawful, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with the rule of law.

SERAP is also asking the court for:

A declaration that the proposed increase violates the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and the RMAFC Act.

An injunction restraining RMAFC from taking steps to review upward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, deputies, and lawmakers.

An order directing RMAFC to review salaries and allowances of political office holders downward to reflect current economic realities.

The rights group argued that the commission’s constitutional mandate does not confer unlimited powers to raise salaries arbitrarily, especially in a country where over 133 million Nigerians live in poverty and several states struggle to pay workers and pensioners.

“The imminent pay rise for political office holders is a gross misuse of the RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory powers,” SERAP maintained.

It added that increasing politicians’ pay while millions face worsening living conditions, epileptic electricity, and poor public services would undermine democratic fairness, equality, and non-discrimination.

The organisation recalled that in June 2021, Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, ordered RMAFC to review downward and fix lawmakers’ salaries to reflect Nigeria’s economic realities following suits brought by SERAP, BudgIT, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE), and others.

SERAP’s legal team Kolawole Oluwadare, Oluwakemi Oni, and Andrew Nwankwo insisted that the proposed increment clashes with citizens’ socio-economic rights and violates both Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 of the Constitution.

“The RMAFC should prioritise reducing the excessive allowances and life pensions for former political leaders rather than raising salaries for those currently in power,” the group said.

It warned that RMAFC’s justification that the pay is “paltry” and the review package is “fair, realistic, and sustainable”is misleading and insensitive in light of Nigeria’s worsening economic crisis.