The Solidarity Network for Workers’ Rights (SNWR) has come down hard on the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission’s (RMAFC) proposal to raise the salaries of political office holders, describing the move as a “callous insult” to millions of struggling Nigerians.
In a strongly worded statement signed by its spokesperson, Lateef Adams, the group accused the government of “rewarding the privileged few while abandoning the working majority to hunger, poverty, and despair.”
The proposed salary increment, which targets the President, governors, legislators, and other political office holders, comes at a time when ordinary citizens can barely afford food, transport, healthcare, rent, and electricity due to skyrocketing inflation and the naira’s free fall.
“This plan is nothing short of a slap in the face to workers, pensioners, students, and the unemployed who are already gasping under the weight of economic hardship,” SNWR declared.
Tinubu’s Track Record Under Fire
The network recalled that barely weeks after assuming office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu had already approved a 114% wage increase for political office holders—an action the group says exposed the administration’s “misplaced priorities and blatant insensitivity.”
“The same government that repeatedly tells workers it has no resources to implement a new minimum wage suddenly finds billions to fatten the pockets of politicians and their cronies,” the statement read.
SNWR further highlighted ongoing labour disputes as evidence of the government’s gross neglect of workers’ welfare.
Lagos State University staff were forced into strike over the government’s failure to honour a signed agreement on a new salary structure.
Nurses nationwide only recently suspended strike actions after weeks of protests demanding fair wages and humane working conditions.
Academic Staff Unions across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education have issued ultimatums to the Federal Government over similar wage and funding issues, yet their cries continue to fall on deaf ears.
“The government has turned a blind eye to these legitimate struggles while shamelessly prioritising salary increases for politicians,” SNWR added.
The group noted that ordinary Nigerians are being crushed by inflation, rising food and transport costs, skyrocketing rent, and arbitrary electricity tariffs—conditions that have eroded the real value of workers’ earnings and widened inequality.
Call To Action
Warning that the proposed salary hike represents yet another assault on Nigeria’s working class, SNWR urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), students’ unions, and other civil society groups to unite in mass mobilisation, protests, and strikes to resist what it called “a dangerous deepening of exploitation.”
The statement concluded emphatically:
> “Instead of lining the pockets of politicians, the government must channel resources into implementing a living wage for workers, improving public services, and rescuing the economy from the disaster created by its anti-people policies. Anything short of this is an affront to the dignity of every Nigerian worker.”
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