In a letter dated August 23, 2025, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the group urged the president to direct the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to suspend the planned pay rise for the president, vice president, governors, their deputies and lawmakers. SERAP also asked Tinubu to encourage other top office holders to reject the increase.
The organization further called on the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to ensure compliance with a 2021 judgment by Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor, which directed RMAFC to reduce the salaries and allowances of federal lawmakers in line with economic conditions. That judgment followed suits filed by SERAP and over 1,500 Nigerians.
SERAP argued that RMAFC had overstepped its constitutional mandate, stressing that raising salaries for politicians when over 133 million Nigerians live in poverty and many states cannot pay workers’ wages or pensions was unjustifiable.
The group, however, supported an upward review of judges’ salaries, noting that poor remuneration for the judiciary undermines access to justice and the fight against corruption.
RMAFC Chairman Mohammed Bello had announced on August 18, 2025, that the commission would propose a salary review for top politicians, describing their current pay as “paltry” and insisting the package was fair and realistic. He said the last full overhaul of the remuneration system was in 1992.
SERAP rejected the justification, insisting that any pay rise for political leaders at this time would deepen inequality and further alienate citizens from governance.
