SERAP Asks Court To Stop Salary Increase For Tinubu, Govs

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has dragged the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission,RMAFC, to court over its plan to raise the salaries of political and public office holders in the country.

The commission had recently proposed a 100 percent increase for the president, vice president, governors and their deputies,  judges and members of the National Assembly, saying what they currently earn does not befit the country’s image as the biggest in the continent with over 200 million population.

RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, disclosed that the salary is grossly inadequate for the public office holders.

Not a few Nigerians have kicked against the proposed increase, because according to them, it’s against the current economic reality in the country.

In the lawsuit NO FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, filed last week by SERAP at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP, the public accountability and transparency body claimed that the proposed increase is against the Nigerian Constitution and violates the human rights of Nigerians.

According to a statement issued on Sunday, by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the rights body is asking 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.

SERAP also prayed the court to order the Revenue agency to review the salaries of these public office holders downward in line with the economic situation in the country.

SERAP Demands: “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.

“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.”