Nigeria

the Nigerian military is responsible for defending against external aggression, maintaining the country's territorial integrity, securing national borders, participating in international peacekeeping and other security missions, suppressing insurrection, and aiding civil authorities in restoring order, as well as other duties such as providing humanitarian assistance; its primary concerns are internal and maritime security; in the northeast part of the country, the military is conducting 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 terrorist-related violence has killed an estimated 35-40,000 people, mostly civilians, since 2009; in the northwest, the military faces threats from criminal gangs--locally referred to as bandits--and violence associated with long-standing farmer-herder conflicts, as well as BH and ISIS-WA terrorists; the military also continues to protect the oil industry in the Niger Delta region against militants and criminal activity and since 2021, has deployed troops alongside other security forces to quell renewed agitation in the state of Biafra; maritime security concerns include piracy and the protection of natural resources in the Gulf of Guinea 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 Great Britain's West African colonies; the WAFF (the honorary title "Royal" was added later) served in both World Wars; in 1956, the Nigeria Regiment of the Royal WAFF 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 (2025)

180 Sudan/South Sudan (UNISFA); 200 Gambia (ECOWAS); 150 Guinea-Bissau (ECOWAS) (2025)

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

Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN): Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy (includes Coast Guard), Nigerian Air Force Ministry of Interior: Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC); Ministry of Police Affairs: Nigeria Police Force (NPF) (2025)

note 1: the NSCDC is 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 federal government security forces, but official security forces remained the constitutional prerogative of the federal government; in 2023, the federal government began deploying thousands of "agro rangers" across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory to help safeguard farmland and mediate conflicts, especially in areas hit by farmer-herder clashes

18-25 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription (2025)

the military's inventory consists primarily of imported weapons systems from a range of countries, including Brazil, China, France, Russia/former Soviet Union, South Korea, Türkiye, and the US; Nigeria is developing a defense-industry capacity, including small arms, light armored personnel vehicles, and small-scale naval production (2025)

information varies; estimated 140,000 active Armed Forces (2025)