The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has signalled plans to review the salaries of political office holders in Nigeria, describing the current pay structure as “inadequate, unrealistic, and outdated.”
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, the Chairman of the Commission, Mohammed Shehu, lamented that President Bola Tinubu earns only ₦1.5m monthly. At the same time, ministers receive figures of less than N1m, which have remained unchanged since 2008.
Shehu said, “You are paying the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria N1.5m a month, with a population of over 200 million people. Everybody believes that it is a joke.”
The RMAFC boss further argued that the disparity between political office holders and heads of agencies was unjustifiable.
“You cannot pay a minister less than ₦1m per month since 2008 and expect him to put in his best without necessarily being involved in some other things. You pay either a CBN governor or the DG ten times more than you pay the President. That is just not right. Or you pay him [the head of an agency] twenty times higher than the Attorney-General of the Federation. That is absolutely not right,” he further stated.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the proposal, warning that increasing the salaries of politicians would exacerbate the nation’s economic inequality.
The union argued that political officeholders already enjoy numerous hidden perks that inflate their actual earnings and insisted that attention should instead be directed toward workers battling harsh economic realities.
Shehu clarified that the RMAFC was not responsible for fixing the national minimum wage but was constitutionally empowered to determine the pay of political, judicial, and legislative office holders.
“We are strictly restricted to political office holders, governors, senators, legislators, ministers, DGs, and other people,” he said.
Despite public resentment towards higher pay for politicians, the chairman stressed the importance of “reasonable living salaries” for those in top government positions.
“It’s about time that people like you and others should support the commission to come up with reasonable living salaries for ministers, DGs, and the President,” he added.
Shehu also announced that the commission had commenced a long-overdue review of Nigeria’s vertical revenue-sharing formula, which has remained unchanged since 1992.
Under the current arrangement, 52.68% of federally collected revenues are allocated to the Federal Government, 26.72% to the states, and 20.60% to local governments.
In addition, 4.18% is reserved for special funds, including 1% each for the Federal Capital Territory and ecological fund, 1.68% for the natural resources development fund, and 0.5% for stabilisation.
“In line with this constitutional responsibility and in response to the evolving socio-economic, political and fiscal realities of our nation, the Commission has resolved to initiate the process of reviewing the revenue allocation formula to reflect emerging socio-economic realities,” Shehu told reporters.
He explained that recent constitutional amendments had expanded the fiscal burden of state governments. “The situation has made it essential to re-evaluate the structure of fiscal federalism in order to foster economic growth in individual states, enabling them to become independent from the central government and ensuring equity, responsiveness, and sustainability,” he said.
Shehu recalled that previous attempts to adjust the formula had been unsuccessful. The Commission presented a report in 2022, under the former Chairman Elias Mbam, recommending allocations of 45.17 per cent for the Federal Government, 29.79 per cent for states, and 21.04 per cent for local governments.
However, the proposal was never implemented by the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The revenue sharing formula, which has been a controversial subject in Nigeria since before independence in 1960, refers to the proportion of resources accruing to the federation that is allocated to each of the nation’s components.
It also defines the proportion of resources that must be retained in the territories where they are generated, as well as the allocation to government agencies that collect the revenues on behalf of the federation.
The current revenue formula was designed during the tenure of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. However, there have been calls and attempts to change this formula to ensure equitable distribution of the accrued revenue.
The current plan to review the formula would not be the first time the RMAFC had undertaken to tinker with the country’s revenue-sharing arrangement. In 2013, the commission embarked on a nationwide consultation with the 36 states and met with notable figures to review the formula.
Investigation showed that the politics and the eventual consequence of the Federal Government losing its substantial allocation from the federation account are responsible for the delay in completing the process for implementing the new revenue formula.
Former Chairman, Public Affairs and Communication Committee at RMAFC, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, had in a statement on December 19, 2013, said the draft new revenue formula was ready and would be forwarded to former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, per the constitution. It is the responsibility of the President to lay the new formula before the National Assembly for necessary legislation.
Dada said that members of the commission unanimously adopted the draft report following a two-week retreat at Tinapa, Cross River State, where all submissions, relevant documents, and stakeholder inputs were analysed and considered.
The commissioners converged from November 23rd to December 7th at Tinapa Business Resort and Hotel, Calabar, Cross River State Capital, where they held a two-week retreat to brainstorm on the Revenue Allocation Formula Draft Report.
Investigation shows that Jonathan did not make any attempt to table the draft revenue formula before the National Assembly before his tenure elapsed on May 29, 2015.
When Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015, there was hope that the draft document would receive a fresh breath of life, given that many state governments, especially in the states controlled by the All Progressives Congress, had vigorously advocated for the adoption of a new formula to help the states meet their financial challenges.
As Jonathan, Buhari also tactically declined to receive the new formula from RMAFC. Despite previous attempts to review the current formula having failed, the commission reaffirms its commitment to undertake a fresh review of the formula.
The current RMAFC chairman assured stakeholders that the ongoing review would be “inclusive, data-driven, and transparent. This review will involve consultations with the Presidency, National Assembly, state governors, ALGON, the judiciary, civil society organisations, the private sector, and development partners.”
Shehu added that with the new Act signed into law in April, the Commission now enjoys financial autonomy for the first time.
Labour Rejects Increment
Nigeria’s organised labour criticised the plan by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to review upward the salaries of political office holders, saying the proposal ignores the country’s worsening inequality and the hidden perks that already inflate earnings in government.
The Nigeria Labour Congress pushed back, insisting that the real problem is not the official salary figures but the allowances and perks of office that remain hidden from public view.
An NLC high-ranking official who spoke with Punch on the development said, “The President’s salary may be about N1.5m a month, but when allowances are added, the total package can exceed ₦100 million.
“Allowances for medical care, housing, digital services, internet access, security, travel, and even COVID-related expenses are all buried in the system. If the government can publish the president’s salary, then it should also publish these allowances, because that is where the true burden lies.”
Nigerian workers are still struggling with the high cost of living, making it challenging to survive on the minimum wage, despite signs of inflation easing.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the country’s headline inflation rate fell for the fourth straight month in July 2025, moderating to 21.88 per cent from 22.22 per cent in June.
Food inflation remained a pressing concern at 22.74 per cent year-on-year, although this was significantly lower than the 39.53 per cent recorded in July 2024.
The union accused political leaders of living in luxury while millions of citizens sink deeper into poverty.
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