The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is considering a review of salaries for political office holders in Nigeria. According to RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, President Bola Tinubu currently earns N1.5 million monthly, while ministers receive less than N1 million, figures that have remained unchanged since 2008.
Current Salary Structure Questioned
Shehu questioned the logic behind paying ministers less than N1 million per month since 2008 and expecting them to perform optimally without resorting to other means. He also noted that some agency heads earn ten to twenty times more than the President and Attorney-General of the Federation, which he described as “absolutely not right.”
Nigeria Labour Congress Reacts
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress has opposed the plan, citing the country’s worsening inequality and the hidden perks that already inflate earnings in government.
RMAFC’s Constitutional Mandate
The RMAFC boss stressed that the commission is constitutionally mandated to determine the salaries of political, judicial, and legislative office holders, and not responsible for setting the minimum wage for civil servants or public sector workers.
Review of Revenue-Sharing Formula
Shehu also announced that RMAFC has begun a review of Nigeria’s vertical revenue-sharing formula, which determines how federally collected in federally collected revenues are shared among the federal, state, and local governments. The current formula, which has been in place since 1992, allocates 52.68% to the Federal Government, 26.72% to states, and 20.60% to local governments.
New Proposal
The Commission had previously proposed a new formula in 2022, which allocated 45.17% to the Federal Government, 29.79% to states, and 21.04% to local governments. However, the proposal was never implemented. Shehu noted that recent constitutional amendments have expanded the fiscal burden of state governments, making it essential to re-evaluate the structure of fiscal federalism.
