Nigerian Air force Salary Scale: How Much A Flying Officer Earns (2024)

How Much is the Nigerian Air force Salary Scale monthly?

Do you have what it takes to join the Nigerian air force? If you do, it would only be fair that you should be aware on information on their ranks and salary structure of the Nigerian Airforce. We have covered all that in this article below.

It is no doubt that the Nigerian air force is one of the strongest military force in Africa. With over 10,000 able-bodied officers, more young people wish to start a career by joining the Nigeria air force. For those concerned on information on the Nigerian army salary structure, we have covered it in one of our previous posts with that of the Nigerian navy ranks and salary. This article focuses more on the Nigerian air force salary scale.

The Nigerian airforce recruitment is normally done on a yearly basis, so all interested individuals who have passion for the job and are interested in serving as an officer in the Nigerian airforce should visit the official Nigerian air force recruitment portal and download the recruitment form.

Brief History

The Nigerian Air force was established in 1961 just after the country was engaged in peace keeping missions in Congo and Tanzania. It was the need to airlift troops going for these peacekeeping operations that gave rise to the importance of the country having a national airforce.

Also, between the year 1962 to 1964, the then Nigerian Parliament commenced the process of institutionalizing the Nigerian Air force. This saw the organization firmly established to take charge of the airspace by gaining and maintaining control of the air while fulfilling their capacity in other air-power related tasks which was expected of the national defence and security outfit.

The following were the aims and objectives the newly formed Nigerian Airforce as prescribed by the Nigerian parliament:

• To ensure a fast versatile mobility of the Armed Forces.
• To give the country the deserved prestige that is invaluable in international matters.
• To achieve a full complement of the military defence system of the Federal Republic of Nigeria both in the air and on the ground.
• To provide close support for the ground-based and sea borne forces in all phases of operations and to ensure the territorial integrity of a united Nigeria.

The first batch of cadets was enlisted in the year 1962. At first, they were only 10 in number, obtaining their training with the Ethiopian Air force. It was until 1963, that another set of 6 were sent out to be trained by the Royal Canadian Air force in Canada.

The Nigerian Government decided to begin training these recruits within the country using the German Air force. This was in a bid to stop sending out cadets to be trained in foreign countries.

These trained officers would later experience their first outing in war during the Nigerian Civil war which happened between 1967 and 1970.

The achievements of the Nigerian airforce in the last 45 years has been tremendous as the NAF has continually been involved in operations in defending the Nigerian territory.

Chief of them is their active involvement in effectively air-lifting troops, quick provision of logistics supply, medieval and combat operations.

Occasionally, collaboration with other armed forces such as the Nigerian Army, the NAF Nigerian Army Air Defence Artillery still provides low-level air defence for airports within the country.

Another achievement of the NAF is airlifting the Nigerian contingents to sporting events when there are flight problems in the country.

Below are the various international peace-keeping operations the NAF have been involved in till date:

• the peace keeping mission in Lebanon from 1978 to 1982,
• the OAU peace-keeping Operations in Chad in 1983
• the UN Military Observer Group (UNIMOG) in Yugoslavia in 1988,
• the ECOMOG Operations in Liberia,
• the UNISOM Operations in Somalia and Rwanda as well as
• the peace-keeping engagement in Sierra Leone.

Nigerian Air Force Ranks And Symbols

It is also important that you are aware of the Nigerian air force ranks and symbols and what it signifies. The emblem includes the golden horses and eagle which signifies honor while the red colour portrays the strength and power of the Air force.

Rank structure of The Nigerian Air force

Before we write out the Nigerian air force ranks and their salary structure, lets first list out the ranks from the highest to the lowest. Below are the Nigerian air force military ranks of commissioned and non commissioned officers.

For Commissioned Officers:

• Marshal is the highest rank of the Nigerian Air Force and is responsible for the activities of the Air Force and its officers.
• Air Chief Marshal is the second-highest rank in Nigerian Air Force.
• Air Marshal.
• Air Vice-Marshal.
• Air Commodore has only one star. The most junior of all current ranks.
• Group Captain is senior commissioned rank.
• Wing Commander is a rank of a senior commissioned officer. he oversees the jets (Senior Pilot).
• Squadron Leader commands smaller groups of aircraft as well as land-operating squadrons.
• Flight Lieutenant is a low commissioned rank.
• Flying Officer is a standard position of a junior commissioned officer. This person usually serves as the security officer, adjutant, and squadron pilot.
• Pilot Officer is the lowermost commissioned rank (usually a member of an aircrew).

In descending order of seniority, the Nigerian air force ranks for airman/woman for non commissioned officers include:

• Air Warrant Officer
• Master Warrant Officer
• Warrant Officer
• Flight Sergeant
• Sergeant
• Corporal
• Lance Corporal
• Aircraftman/woman

Nigerian Air force Salary Scale

The Nigerian air force salary scale when compared to the Nigerian navy ranks and salary is also high. No wonder people want to join either of the two armed forces than the army. Below is the yearly salary structure of the Nigerian air force

• Vice Marshal earns about $80,000 annually
• Commodore is paid $46,000
• Wing Commander collects $22,000
• Squadron Leader – $20,000
• Flight Lieutenant – $18,000
• Flying Officer/Pilot earns $15,000

SEE OTHER NIGERIAN AIR FORCE RANKS AND THEIR SALARY STRUCTURE HERE

Although you won’t see the salaries in Nigerian air force any how, this information on Nigerian air force rank structure and their salaries will certainly help new recruits who want to enter into military service, know a little about what officers in the air force earns.

A popular question recruits of the Nigeria Air force wants to know would be how much does the Nigerian Air force pay their officers?

The monthly salaries of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the Nigerian Air force Salary are highlighted below:

Commissioned officers:

Pilot Officer            N187,159
Flying Officer           N218,400
Flight Lieutenant        N232,484
Squadron Leader       N248,004
Wing Comdr            N342,586
Group Captain          N352,631
Air Commodore         N677,895
Air Vice-Marshal        N1,376,343
Air Marshal             N1,486,451
Air Chief Marshal       N1,724,283

Non-commissioned officers:

Trainee               N10,237
Aircraftman woman    N53,892
Lance Corporal        N55,832
Corporal              N58,634
Sergeant              N69,261
Flight Sergeant        N87,119
Warrant Officer        N101,974
Master Warrant Officer N165,697
Cadet (Trainee)        N44,564
Air Warrant Officer     N171,793