By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) have jointly warned President Bola Tinubu against approving the proposed upward review of the remuneration packages for political office holders as recommended by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), describing the move as “insensitive, unjust, inequitable, unlawful, and ill-timed.”
Both groups argued that the proposed pay hike, coming at a time of severe economic hardship and widespread poverty, would worsen inequality, deepen citizens’ suffering, and undermine the President’s pledge of fairness and shared sacrifice.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the labour centre was “outraged” by RMAFC’s decision, stressing that it could trigger a “tsunami of discontent” if allowed to stand.
“We are outraged by the decision of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to embark on a comprehensive upward review of the remuneration packages of political office holders across the country.
“The move is insensitive, unjust, and inequitable and will only succeed in deepening the growing inequality between civil servants and political office holders,” the statement read.
Ajaero noted that the majority of Nigerians had already been adjudged multi-dimensionally poor and lived in “miserably poor” conditions. He described the justification by RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Usman, as “puerile and insulting to Nigerians’ intelligence.”
According to him, “making public office a sanctuary for wealth-making for literally doing nothing instead of service and sacrifice will raise the stakes and desperation for public office, with intended and unintended consequences, including self-extinction.”
The NLC further recalled that while civil servants’ wage reviews are meagre and tied to resource availability, political office holders often receive disproportionate increases.
“The last time a wage review was done for civil servants, it was not more than 50 per cent, but the one for political office holders was in excess of 800 per cent. This is inequity at its worst,” the statement said.
The labour movement also criticised the uniform pay structure for politicians across states, noting the irony that “a councillor in Yobe State earns the same as one in Rivers State.” At the same time, civil servants remain subject to wide disparities.
NLC demanded that the earnings of political office holders and the benchmarks for any proposed review be made public, warning RMAFC to “put on hold this exercise before it triggers a tsunami.”
*SERAP threatens legal action
Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has written to President Tinubu, urging him to “direct RMAFC to immediately suspend the patently unlawful and unconstitutional pay rise for political and public office holders.”
In a letter dated August 23, 2025, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP stated: “Suspending the imminent pay rise for political office holders would serve legitimate public interests. When the exercise of RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates clashes with Nigerians’ fundamental rights, the public interest in upholding these rights ought to prevail.”
SERAP reminded the President of a subsisting judgment by Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which ordered RMAFC to review the salaries of National Assembly members downward to reflect the country’s economic realities.
The group condemned the pay hike proposal as a “gross misuse of constitutional mandate” at a time when more than 133 million Nigerians live in poverty, public health systems are failing, electricity supply is epileptic, and state governments struggle to pay salaries and pensions.
“The RMAFC cannot justifiably increase the salaries of political office holders while millions of Nigerians suffer harrowing living conditions, epileptic electricity, collapsed public healthcare, and lack of access to clean water,” the group declared.
SERAP also warned that it would take legal action against the Federal Government if Tinubu failed to act within seven days.
While rejecting the political pay rise, SERAP stressed the need for upward review of judges’ remuneration, arguing that better pay for judicial officers would strengthen the delivery of justice and bolster the fight against corruption.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Bello, had earlier defended the planned review on August 18, describing the current salaries of political office holders as “paltry” and claiming the proposed package would be “fair, realistic, and sustainable.”
But both the NLC and SERAP dismissed this argument as tone-deaf and anti-people, especially given the continued imposition of a N70,000 minimum wage and the refusal to increase civil service salaries due to alleged lack of funds.
For the NLC, “this ill-advised adventure” smacks of discrimination and inequality. For SERAP, it violates constitutional provisions and public trust. Both groups are now united in pressing Tinubu to demonstrate leadership by rejecting the RMAFC proposal and standing with ordinary Nigerians during the current economic downturn.
