RMAFC Hints at Salary Increase for Tinubu, Shettima, Senators, and Ministers Amidst NLC Backlash

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has hinted that there may be an upward review of the salaries of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, federal lawmakers, and cabinet ministers.

PulseNets reports that the RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, stressing that the current salary structure of top political officeholders in Nigeria has remained stagnant since 2008 despite mounting economic challenges.

Shehu told PulseNets that the present pay for the country’s leaders was “untenable and unrealistic.”

“You cannot pay the President of Nigeria N1.5 million monthly with a population of over 200 million people and expect it to be taken seriously.

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 said.

The RMAFC boss, PulseNets learnt, argued that the weight of responsibilities on the president, vice president, ministers, and senators had grown significantly since 2008, making their stagnant salary package an anomaly in comparison with other top-ranking public officials.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has strongly condemned the move. Speaking to PulseNets, labour leaders warned that it would be unjust and provocative to adjust politicians’ salaries upwards while ordinary Nigerians are grappling with worsening inflation, widespread poverty, and the rising cost of living.

Also Read: RMAFC Proposes 3.3% Cut In Federal Goverment Allocation

The NLC stressed that such a decision would widen the gap between political elites and the suffering masses, describing the proposal as insensitive at a time when millions of citizens are demanding wage reviews in the face of economic hardship.

With the debate now in the open, PulseNets reports that the issue is set to ignite fresh conversations around political salaries in Nigeria, economic inequality, and public accountability.