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Nigeria has a revenue generation problem, this is what the federal government has consistently repeated, especially when trying to convince the citizens about the need to pay more taxes. Apart from increasing VAT from 5% to 7.5%, the government has introduced charges on deposits (in addition to withdrawal charges), stamp duty charges on POS transactions, and also mulled re-introducing toll charges on federal roads.
        The state governments are the worst hit in terms of revenue deficit. Only a few states can survive without the monthly allocation from the federal government, according to a report by BudgIt, a civic group that monitors government budgets. In fact, around 2016, the situation got worse to the extent that the federal government had to give the states bailout funds to pay their workers' salaries! Many of them were owing salaries up to six months and above with backlog of unpaid pensions at the time. Also, the new N30, 000 minimum wage took so long to be signed partly because of the governors' insistence that they were not financially viable to pay such amount. In fact, some states have said they won't pay the new minimum wage, despite being approved by the federal government. However, in the midst of this cash crunch, the political actors, especially the governors, have insulated themselves with some selfish laws which grant them jumbo allowances and pensions after leaving office, outside the provisions of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). More worrisome, some of these governors leave the office to become senators or federal ministers. Thus, they end up collecting salaries and allowances as senators/ministers as well as collecting jumbo pensions and allowances. In order to stop this tradition of multiple payments which many have described as a daylight robbery, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a civil society organisation, dragged the federal government to court to compel it to recover the pensions and allowances received by the former and serving senators as ex-governors which has reportedly accrued to about N40bn. Subsequently, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos asked the federal government to recover the jumbo payments.

Here's a list of former governors affected by the ruling:
1. Bukola Saraki (former Kwara state governor, former senator)
2. Godswill Akpabio (former Akwa Ibom state governor, former senator, now a minister)
3. Rabiu Kwankwaso (former Kano state governor, former minister, former senator)
4. Theodore Orji (former Abia state governor, now a senator)
5. Abdullahi Adamu (former Nasarawa state governor, now a senator)
6. Sam Egwu (former Ebonyi state governor, now a senator)
7. Shaaba Lafiagi (former Kwara governor, former senator)
8. Joshua Dariye (former Plateau state governor, former senator, now in jail over misappropriation of public funds)
9. Jonah Jang (former Plateau state governor, former senator)
10. Ahmed Sani Yarima (former Zamfara state governor, former senator)
11. Danjuma Goje (former Gombe state governor, former minister, now a senator)
12. Bukar Abba Ibrahim (former Yobe state governor, former senator)
13. Adamu Aliero (former Kebbi state governor, former minister, now a senator)
14. George Akume (former Benue state governor, former senator, Benue North-West, now a minister)
15. Biodun Olujimi (former Ekiti state deputy governor, now a senator)
16. Enyinaya Harcourt Abaribe (former Abia state deputy governor, now a senator)
17. Rotimi Amaechi (former Rivers state governor, now a minister)
18. Kayode Fayemi (Fayemi was appointed minister after his first as Ekiti state governor. He is back as the state governor following his re-election in 2018) 19. Chris Ngige (former Anambra state governor, former senator, now a minister)
20. Babatunde Fashola (former Lagos state governor, now a minister) While Senators Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun are not in the SERAP's list, The two are former governors of Imo and Ogun states respectively and are currently in the Senate.