RMAFC sued over moves to increase salaries of Tinubu, others

A legal challenge has been mounted against the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) following its plan to review upward the salaries of top political office holders, including the President, Vice President, governors, their deputies, and members of the National Assembly.

Last month, RMAFC Chairman Mohammed Shehu revealed the commission’s proposal, describing current pay for such officials as “paltry.”

He noted that President Bola Tinubu earns N1.5 million monthly, a figure he called laughable for a country of over 200 million people, stressing that the amount has remained unchanged since 2008.

In a statement on Sunday, Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), confirmed that the commission had been taken to court, though a date for the hearing is yet to be fixed.

According to him, suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025, filed last week at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeks a judicial declaration that RMAFC’s proposed salary increase is unlawful, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with the rule of law.

“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,” Oluwadare said.

The group further argued that preventing the commission from arbitrarily raising the pay of public officials is in the best interest of Nigerians.

“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,” it added.