Nigeria Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Nigerian Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Coast Guard), Air Force; Ministry of Interior: Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) (2022)

note 1: the NSCDC a paramilitary agency commissioned to assist the military in the management of threats to internal security, including attacks and natural disasters

note 2: some states have created local security forces in response to increased violence, insecurity, and criminality that have exceeded the response capacity of government security forces

Military expenditures

0.7% of GDP (2021 est.)

0.6% of GDP (2020 est.)

0.5% of GDP (2019) (approximately $3.53 billion)

0.5% of GDP (2018) (approximately $3.72 billion)

0.5% of GDP (2017) (approximately $3.42 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

information varies; approximately 135,000 active duty armed forces personnel (100,000 Army; 20,000 Navy/Coast Guard; 15,000 Air Force); approximately 80,000 Security and Civil Defense Corps (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory consists of a wide variety of imported weapons systems of Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, Russian (including Soviet-era), and US origin; since 2010, Nigeria has undertaken a considerable military modernization program, and has received equipment from some 20 countries with China, Russia, and the US as the leading suppliers; Nigeria is also developing a defense-industry capacity, including small arms, armored personnel vehicles, and small-scale naval production (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-26 years of age for men and women for voluntary military service; no conscription (2022)

Military deployments

200 Ghana (ECOMIG) (2022)

note: Nigeria has committed an Army combat brigade (approximately 3,000 troops) to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a regional counter-terrorism force comprised of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; MNJTF conducts operations against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating in the general area of the Lake Chad Basin and along Nigeria's northeast border; national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own country territories, although cross‐border operations are conducted periodically

Military - note

as of 2022, the Nigerian military was sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and regarded as one of its most capable forces; it was focused largely on internal security and faced a number of challenges that have stretched its resources, however; the Army was deployed in all 36 of the country's states; in the northeast, it was conducting counterinsurgency/counter-terrorist operations against the Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in West Africa (ISIS-WA) terrorist groups, where it has deployed as many as 70,000 troops at times and jihadist-related violence has killed an estimated 35-40,000 people, mostly civilians, since 2009 (as of 2022); in the northwest, it faced growing threats from criminal gangs, bandits, and violence associated with historical and ongoing farmer-herder conflicts, as well as BH and ISIS-WA terrorists; bandits in the northwest were estimated to number in the low 10,000s and violence there has killed more than 10,000 since the mid-2010s; the military also continued to protect the oil industry in the Niger Delta region against militants and criminal activity, although the levels of violence there have decreased in recent years; beginning in May 2021, a contingent of military troops and police were deployed to eastern Nigeria to quell renewed agitation for a state of Biafra (Biafra seceded from Nigeria in the late 1960s, sparking a civil war that caused more than 1 million deaths)

as of 2022, the Navy was focused on security in the Gulf of Guinea; since 2016, it has developed a maritime strategy, boosted naval training and its naval presence in the Gulf, increased participation in regional maritime security efforts, and acquired a significant number of new naval platforms, including offshore and coastal patrol craft, fast attack boats, and air assets

the Nigerian military traces its origins to the Nigeria Regiment of the West African Frontier Force (WAFF), a multi-regiment force formed by the British colonial office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria (Lagos and the protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria), Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and Gambia; the WAFF served with distinction in both East and West Africa during World War I; in 1928, it received royal recognition and was re-named the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF); the RWAFF went on to serve in World War II as part of the British 81^st and 82^nd (West African) divisions in the East Africa and Burma campaigns; in 1956, the Nigeria Regiment of the RWAFF was renamed the Nigerian Military Forces (NMF) and in 1958, the colonial government of Nigeria took over control of the NMF from the British War Office; the Nigerian Armed Forces were established following independence in 1960

Maritime threats

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial and offshore waters in the Niger Delta and Gulf of Guinea remain a very high risk for piracy and armed robbery of ships; in 2021, there were 34 reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea region; although a significant decrease from the total number of 81 incidents in 2020, it included the one hijacking and three of five ships fired upon worldwide; while boarding and attempted boarding to steal valuables from ships and crews are the most common types of incidents, almost a third of all incidents involve a hijacking and/or kidnapping; in 2021, 57 crew members were kidnapped in seven separate incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, representing 100% of kidnappings worldwide; Nigerian pirates in particular are well armed and very aggressive, operating as far as 200 nm offshore; the Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation has issued a Maritime Advisory (2022-001 - Gulf of Guinea-Piracy/Armed Robbery/Kidnapping for Ransom) effective 4 January 2022, which states in part, "Piracy, armed robbery, and kidnapping for ransom continue to serve as significant threats to US-flagged vessels transiting or operating in the Gulf of Guinea"

NOTE: The information regarding Nigeria on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nigeria 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nigeria 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.