Nigerian Military Ranking in the World 2024

Last updated on January 24th, 2024 at 11:08 am

Military ranking in the world is carried out by assessing equipment, weapons, capabilities, intelligence and strength of the armed forces of a country.

Nigeria has been ranked 4th strongest military in Africa due to the fact that her land soldiers have recorded so many successes in peace keeping missions and the fight against terrorism.

Although, other powerful countries that have the best military weapons and tactics like the United States, Russia, Israel, etc. has been rated the best in the world, Nigeria’s place on the list isn’t far.

WHAT IS NIGERIA’S WORLD MILITARY RANKING?

Nigeria has been ranked 39th strongest military in the world in 2024 by Global Fire Power surpassing the likes of Libya, Tunisia, and a host of other countries especially in finance, logistics and defence budget.

LIST OF ARMED FORCES IN NIGERIA

The armed forces of Nigeria is composed of all the military components of the country which defend her territorial borders, her territorial waters and her air space.

The Nigerian armed forces is divided into three components and they all take their orders from the President of Nigeria who also is the Commander-in-Chief.

They include:

THE NIGERIAN ARMY

This branch of the armed forces deals with land operations. They protect the country against external invaders on land. In terms of number, they are the largest in the country. The Nigerian army was ranked as the best land force in Africa and has since lived up to that bidding since its creation in 1954.

The military might of the Nigerian Army has been tested in various peace keeping missions outside the country and also, within the confines of the Nigerian territory as demonstrated against the Boko Haram insurgency.

The weapons of the Nigerian army include: A minimum of eighty two (82) different calibre of weapon systems, 200 types of ammunition both ballistic, RPG’s, tankers, missiles (not nuclear) with about 65 various categories of international weapon grade standard gotten from 14 manufacturers all around the globe.

While we cannot categorically list all the weapons in the arsenal of the Nigerian army, we have at least summarized some of most sophisticated in their possession as at the time of writing.

THE NIGERIAN NAVY

The Nigerian Navy is also one of the strongest naval forces in the continent, currently ranked third. Some of the war ships of the Nigerian Navy include the following:

NNS Aradu

NNS Thunder

NNS Okpabana

NNS Siri

NNS Unity

NNS Ekpe

NNS Prosperity

NNS Otobo

NNS Erinomi

NNS Makurdi

NNS Ambe

NNS Ohue

NNS Obula

NNS Ayam

NNS Lana

NNS Dorina

NNS Centenary

NNS Obuma

NNS Andoni (Nigerian Built)

NNS Kyanwa

NNS Sagbama

The Nigerian Navy is highly rated as one of the Naval forces with sophisticated intelligence gathering.

The Command centres of the Navy in Nigeria include: The Eastern Naval Command, The Western Naval Command and The Central Naval Command.

All the Command centres are answerable to the Chief of Naval staff, who is the highest ranked officer in the Nigerian Navy.

THE NIGERIAN AIR FORCE

Nigeria’s military ranking in the world will not be complete without the air arm of her armed forces mentioned.

The Nigerian Air force is one of the largest on the African continent. One fundamental reason why it helps the Nigerian armed forces to rank globally is because of its staff strength and the weapons in its armoury.

The Nigerian Air force, according to IISS Military Balance 2009, p.314, has a staff strength of ten thousand men, aircraft including 12 Chinese Chengdu F-7s, 11 Dassault-Dornier Alpha jets, various armed helicopters, and several military transport aircraft.

NIGERIAN MILITARY WEAPONS (UPGRADE)

The Nigerian military Ranking is done yearly, this is due to the fact that the defence budget of nations changes. Their staff strength also increases and also the weapons in their arsenal needs to be upgraded as other top ranking countries like the United States, Russia, China, India and France all use sophisticated, advanced weapons that they also upgrade yearly.

Nigeria still needs to do more in the upgrade of her military forces so as to improve her world ranking and be up there with the very best security forces in Africa and her global counterparts.