The Federal Government has approved an increase in the annual robe allowance for state counsel and legal officers working with the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, raising the payment to ₦1 million per year.
The new allowance was disclosed by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) in a circular dated July 14, 2026. The revised rate represents a significant increase from the previously reported ₦300,000 annual allowance for lawyers in the Justice Ministry.
Under the new structure, lawyers serving as state counsel and legal officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Council will receive ₦1 million annually. Legal officers working in other federal ministries, departments and agencies who perform strictly legal functions will receive ₦600,000 per year.
The ₦1 million rate represents an increase of ₦700,000, or about 233 per cent, compared with the previously reported ₦300,000 allowance.
The new rates, however, will not take effect immediately. According to the NSIWC circular, the revised robe allowances will become effective from January 1, 2027, with the affected ministries, departments and agencies expected to fund the payments from their overhead allocations.
The earlier ₦300,000 figure was disclosed in 2021 by former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, during a budget defence before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights and Legal Matters. At the time, about 860 lawyers in the ministry were reportedly entitled to the allowance.
The latest circular, however, does not specifically state that ₦300,000 was the previous rate for every category of legal officer covered by the new arrangement. The figure is therefore best understood as the previously reported allowance for lawyers in the Justice Ministry.
Robe allowance is intended to support government lawyers who are required to appear in court wearing the prescribed professional attire while representing the Federal Government and its agencies.
The review comes as the government continues to adjust allowances and other components of remuneration across the federal public service.
With the new structure, lawyers in the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Council are set to receive a substantially higher annual robe allowance from 2027, while legal officers performing legal duties in other federal agencies will also see their allowance increase to ₦600,000.
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