By Peter Omopo
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 the salaries of political and public office holders in Nigeria, including the President, Vice President, governors, their deputies, and federal lawmakers.
The suit, filed last week at the Federal High Court, Abuja, and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, seeks a declaration that the planned salary hike is “unlawful, unconstitutional and inconsistent with the rule of law.”
In a statement on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the organisation is also asking the court for an injunction restraining RMAFC from taking any steps to implement the salary increase. Instead, SERAP wants the court to order the commission to review downward the salaries and allowances of political leaders in line with the current economic realities facing Nigerians.
The rights group argued that the proposed pay rise violates the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and RMAFC’s enabling Act. It further contended that the decision amounts to misuse of the commission’s constitutional mandate, especially at a time when over 133 million Nigerians live in poverty and several states struggle to pay salaries and pensions.
According to SERAP, “Reviewing downward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers would be consistent with the Constitution, Nigeria’s international human rights obligations, and the country’s harsh economic realities.”
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of SERAP by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Oluwakemi Oni, and Andrew Nwankwo, also references a June 4, 2021 judgment by Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which ordered RMAFC to cut lawmakers’ salaries to reflect the country’s financial situation.
SERAP noted that RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Bello, had on August 18 announced the proposed pay rise, describing the current salaries of political office holders as “paltry” and arguing that the review would be “fair, realistic and sustainable.”
However, SERAP insists the commission should instead prioritise fiscal efficiency by curbing excessive allowances, cutting life pensions for former leaders, and channelling resources toward public services such as healthcare, electricity, and potable water.
The organisation added: “The idea of representative democracy, fairness and equality would mean little if salaries of political office holders are arbitrarily increased while millions of poor Nigerians watch their standard of living collapse.”
A date is yet to be fixed for the hearing of the case.
