Top 10 Highest Paid Government Jobs in Nigeria in 2026

Published: October 9, 2026

Key Facts

• Nigeria's highest-paid government job in 2026 is Chief Justice of Nigeria, at ₦5.39 million per month — about ₦64.7 million ($48,559) a year, roughly 4.6 times the President's statutory package.
• Judges sweep the top three: the President of the Court of Appeal (₦53.8 million a year) and Supreme Court justices (₦50.5 million) both out-earn the President, thanks to a 300% pay raise signed into law in 2024.
• The President's official monthly package is ₦1.17 million (₦14.1 million a year) — a schedule unchanged since 2008. A proposed review that would have raised it to ₦1.5 million is on ice after public backlash and a court challenge.
• Senators' official package is ₦1.06 million a month, but that figure is the most contested in Nigerian public life: former senators allege ₦13.5 million monthly running costs, a claim the pay commission denies.
• The pay of two of Nigeria's most powerful jobs — the CBN Governor and the NNPC chief executive — is not published at all, so they cannot be ranked. The commission's chairman himself said some agency heads earn up to 20 times what ministers make.

The ten highest-paid offices in Nigerian public service range from ₦64.7 million to ₦7.4 million a year in official pay — but the statutory numbers are only half the story: office running costs, allowances paid outside the official schedule, and undisclosed agency pay mean the real gap between public offices is both narrower and wider than the law suggests.

Selected Details

1. Chief Justice of Nigeria

₦5.39 million per month (₦64.68 million a year). The CJN is Nigeria's highest-paid public office holder by a wide margin — and it is the only figure in the top 10 set by a law passed in the current decade. President Tinubu signed the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Act in 2024, a roughly 300% increase backdated to January 1, 2024, after the judiciary's pay had been frozen for years. The package folds in allowances for vehicles, domestic staff, hardship, entertainment, utilities, security and medicals. On top of the monthly package, a CJN who completes a tenure gets a severance gratuity of ₦80.78 million.

2. President, Court of Appeal

₦4.48 million per month (₦53.76 million a year). The head of Nigeria's second-highest court sits firmly above the President on the pay scale under the same 2024 law. The position supervises the Court of Appeal justices across the country's judicial divisions, and its pay package was raised in the same single executive bill that covered all judicial office holders.

3. Justice, Supreme Court

₦4.21 million per month (₦50.52 million a year). Each justice of the Supreme Court now earns more in a year than the President does in three. Before the 2024 raise, the CJN's total monthly package was about ₦560,000; the new law lifted the whole bench roughly tenfold in nominal terms, a deliberate move to strengthen judicial independence by taking judges off the economic margins.

4. President

₦1.17 million per month (₦14.06 million a year). The President of the Federal Republic earns less in official pay than three judges — a fact the pay commission's own chairman repeated in August 2025, when he disclosed that the President's pay had been "less than ₦1.5 million" a month since 2008. The commission proposed an upward review, but labour unions, opposition parties and civil society groups denounced it as insensitive, and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project went to court to block it. As of October 2026, no new schedule has been confirmed, so the 2008 figures still stand.

5. Senator

₦1.06 million per month (₦12.77 million a year), officially. This is Nigeria's most disputed salary. The pay commission clarified in August 2024 that each of the 109 senators receives ₦1,063,860 a month in statutory pay and allowances — basic pay of just ₦168,867 plus constituency, vehicle, domestic staff and other allowances. But former Senator Shehu Sani has long alleged that senators collect ₦13.5 million a month in running costs on top, and a serving senator, Sumaila Kawu, said in 2024 that his actual take-home exceeded ₦21 million a month. The commission denies authorising any such payments and says it lacks the power to enforce compliance. The ranking uses the statutory figure and reports the dispute as it stands.

6. Vice President

₦1.01 million per month (₦12.13 million a year). The Vice President's official package trails the President's by about 14% on the 2008 schedule. Like the President, the Vice President is one of the few office holders still officially provided housing — a benefit withdrawn from most other political office holders years ago.

7. Deputy Governor

About ₦10.77 million a year. Deputy governors are ranked here on a broader total-package breakdown published in 2025, which includes a basic salary of about ₦2.11 million plus leave allowances, a vehicle loan facility of ₦8.45 million and state-paid housing and medical cover. Because this figure mixes a wider allowance basket than the statutory RMAFC schedules used above, it is the softest number in the top 10 — but even the harder statutory schedules put deputy governors just below governors, which no one disputes.

8. Minister / SGF / Head of Service

₦650,137 per month (₦7.80 million a year). Cabinet ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service sit on identical packages under the 2008 schedule. The pay commission's chairman said in August 2025 that ministers earn "less than ₦1 million" a month — and noted that even a mid-level worker at the Central Bank out-earns a cabinet minister, a comparison that underlines how frozen the political pay scale has become.

9. State Governor

₦648,581 per month (₦7.78 million a year), statutory. A governor's official monthly package combines a basic salary of ₦185,307 with hardship and constituency allowances, under a schedule confirmed from the commission's own remuneration document. Broader 2025 breakdowns put the total annual package at about ₦11.54 million once leave allowances, vehicle loans and state-provided housing and medicals are counted — which would rank governors above ministers on a like-for-like basis, but the figures are not directly comparable with the statutory schedules above. Governors also command the largest discretionary budgets of any office on this list.

10. Permanent Secretary / Director-General of an MDA

₦617,882 per month (₦7.41 million a year). The top of the career civil service — permanent secretaries, directors-general of ministries, departments and agencies, and INEC resident electoral commissioners — closes out the top 10 on the 2008 schedule. It is a reminder of how compressed the official pay structure is: the difference between a minister and the most senior career civil servant is barely 5%.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the highest-paid government official in Nigeria in 2026?

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, at ₦5.39 million per month — about ₦64.68 million ($48,559) a year — under the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Act signed into law in 2024. The CJN earns roughly 4.6 times the President's official ₦1.17 million monthly package.

Why do judges earn more than the President?

Judicial pay was reviewed by a dedicated 2024 law that raised salaries by roughly 300%, while political office holders' pay has been frozen on the 2008 schedule since then. A proposed 2025 review of political pay was stalled by public backlash and a court challenge, so the gap persists.

Do Nigerian senators really earn ₦13.5 million a month?

The official figure is ₦1.06 million a month, clarified by the pay commission in August 2024. The ₦13.5 million figure for monthly running costs was alleged by former Senator Shehu Sani and denied by the commission; a serving senator claimed his take-home exceeded ₦21 million. The truth sits in the contested space between the statutory schedule and these claims.

How much does the CBN Governor earn?

It is not published. Neither the Central Bank Governor's nor the NNPC chief executive's pay appears in any official schedule, so neither could be honestly ranked. The pay commission's chairman said in August 2025 that heads of agencies like the CBN earn up to 10–20 times what ministers make — an indication, not a figure.

How do these salaries compare with what ordinary Nigerians earn?

The national minimum wage is ₦70,000 a month (₦840,000 a year). The CJN's annual package is about 77 times the minimum wage; a minister's official annual pay is about 9 times it. A university professor earns roughly ₦400,000 a month — less than the official monthly package of a permanent secretary.

Data Sources

• BusinessDay — Tinubu signs bill raising judicial officers' salary by 300%, August 2024 (CJN ₦5.39m/mo, Supreme Court justices ₦4.21m, Court of Appeal President ₦4.48m) — businessday.ng
• BusinessDay — CJN to get jumbo raise as Reps pass bill increasing judicial officers' salaries, March 2024 — businessday.ng
• BusinessDay — National Assembly recess and lawmakers' pay, September 2026 (RMAFC 2024 clarification: senator ₦1,063,860/month statutory) — businessday.ng
• News Central TV — RMAFC reveals Nigerian senators' monthly salaries, August 14, 2024 — newscentraltv.com
• Economic Confidential / The Trent — RMAFC remuneration package of federal executive officers (President ₦1,171,568; Vice President ₦1,010,524; ministers ₦650,137; Perm Sec ₦617,882 per month) — thetrentonline.com
• Newswire Law & Events — How much Nigerian governors earn (RMAFC document: governor ₦648,580.62/month statutory) — newswirelawandevents.com
• Nigerian Search Guide — Governors' salary structure in Nigeria, updated October 2026 (governor total package ₦11.54m/yr; deputy governor ₦10,772,296/yr, 2025 breakdown) — nigeriansearchguide.com
• Agenda Papers / Daily Sun — Outburst greets proposed salary increase, August 21, 2025 (RMAFC: president under ₦1.5m/mo, ministers under ₦1m; unchanged since 2008) — agendapapers.com
• The Telegraph Nigeria — SERAP sues RMAFC over proposed salary increase, September 2025 — telegraph.ng
• The Trumpet — Naira to dollar, October 8, 2026 (NFEM official ₦1,331.77/$, parallel ₦1,375) — thetrumpet.ng

Methodology

Offices are ranked by annual official pay in naira, from the highest to the lowest. The primary basis is the statutory package — basic salary plus the regular allowances prescribed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) — rather than total take-home, because office running costs, discretionary allowances and security votes are inconsistently disclosed and cannot be compared like-for-like. The exception is the Deputy Governor, for which only a broader 2025 total-package breakdown was available; it is marked as an estimate and a different methodology. The judicial figures come from the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Act 2024, the only figures in this ranking set by a law passed in the current decade. The political-office figures come from RMAFC's 2008 schedule, which the commission itself confirmed in August 2025 is still in force (the President at "less than ₦1.5m" a month, ministers at "less than ₦1m"). The August 2025 proposal to raise political pay is not reflected because it has not been enacted. USD conversions use the CBN's official NFEM reference rate of ₦1,332 per dollar from October 7–8, 2026. The CBN Governor and NNPC GCEO are excluded because no official published pay figure exists for either office. All figures are estimates drawn from public sources; actual take-home can be higher once allowances, office running costs and in-kind benefits are included. Last updated: October 9, 2026.