Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved salary increases of between 30% and 80% for members of the country’s armed forces, a move the presidency says is aimed at boosting troop welfare as Nigeria continues to battle insurgency, banditry, and kidnappings across multiple regions.
The new pay structure, disclosed in a statement Tuesday by presidential adviser Bayo Onanuga, will take effect September 1 and is expected to benefit approximately 250,000 personnel across the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force.
How the raises break down by rank
The salary review follows a graduated structure that scales inversely with rank, with the steepest increases going to the most junior personnel. Officers above the rank of colonel, including brigadier generals, major generals, lieutenant generals and generals, will receive a 30% salary increase. Personnel from colonel down to warrant officer will see a 50% raise, while soldiers from private to staff sergeant will receive the highest adjustment, an 80% increase.
According to figures obtained by Leadership newspaper, the practical effect for Nigeria’s lowest-ranking soldiers is substantial. Under the previous pay structure, a private earned roughly ₦104,000 monthly, a lance corporal ₦112,000, a corporal ₦114,000, and a sergeant between ₦120,000 and ₦130,000. With the new 80% increment, a private will now earn about ₦187,000 monthly, while lance corporals will receive approximately ₦211,000 and sergeants ₦216,000 or more.
Among commissioned officers, Leadership reported that a major will now earn about ₦540,000 monthly, up from roughly ₦360,000, though actual pay will continue to vary based on age, rank, military branch, and other service conditions.
A significant increase to the national wage bill
The revised package will raise the armed forces’ annual salary bill from ₦660 billion to ₦924 billion, an increase of ₦264 billion, according to the presidency’s statement reported by Reuters and multiple Nigerian outlets. In dollar terms, that shifts the military’s annual wage bill from roughly $485 million to about $679 million, according to Business Insider Africa’s currency conversion of the figures.
But while the percentage increase for individual personnel varies greatly by position – from 30% for senior generals to 80% for the most junior enlisted soldiers – the increase would represent an overall surge of about 40% in the total military salary bill, Reuters said.
Context: Nigeria’s long-running security crisis
The pay increase arrives as Nigeria continues to confront a range of persistent security threats, including Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed banditry across the northwest and north-central regions, kidnappings for ransom, and separatist violence in parts of the southeast. The Jerusalem Post’s coverage of the announcement specifically framed the raise as a direct response to continuing attacks linked to Islamic extremism affecting the country.
Al Jazeera-affiliate Africanews and other outlets covering the announcement noted that the government has repeatedly cited troop morale as a critical factor in Nigeria’s ongoing counterinsurgency and internal security operations, framing the salary review as part of a broader effort to sustain the armed forces’ operational effectiveness amid years of sustained combat engagement.
Building on earlier commitments
Tuesday’s announcement builds on a legislative process that began well before this week. Punch reported in July that Nigeria’s Senate had fixed ₦250,000 as the minimum monthly pay for the country’s least-paid soldiers in a bill passed by the National Assembly in October 2025, following a comparative assessment that found Nigeria had among the lowest military pay levels of any African country. President Tinubu assented to that bill in November 2025, directing that implementation begin with three months of retroactive arrears.
Military veterans quoted by Punch in mid-July had pressed for the immediate implementation of that N250,000 minimum wage commitment, suggesting some frustration with the pace of translating the legislative approval into an actual disbursed pay increase for serving troops. Tuesday’s formal announcement of the graduated 30-to-80% structure appears to represent the administration’s response to that pressure, though the resulting minimum pay for a private, approximately ₦187,000 monthly, falls short of the ₦250,000 minimum wage figure veterans had specifically demanded.
A previous incremental step
The current increase also follows an earlier, smaller adjustment referenced by Nigerian broadcaster Arise TV, which reported in July that soldiers’ allowances had been raised from ₦49,000 to ₦100,000 approximately two years prior, with officials at the time expressing confidence that Tinubu would soon approve a further salary increase to reward troops for their continued service and sacrifice.
What comes next
With the new structure set to take effect September 1, attention now turns to how quickly the increased pay will be disbursed to the roughly 250,000 personnel affected, and whether the raises, particularly for junior enlisted ranks, will be perceived as sufficient given veterans’ earlier calls for a ₦250,000 minimum wage.
The government’s framing of the increase as a welfare and morale measure suggests officials will look to the raises as a tool for sustaining troop commitment amid Nigeria’s multifront security challenges, though the practical impact on recruitment, retention and operational performance is likely to become clearer only in the months following implementation.