Nigerian Army Ranks and Salaries 2020

The Nigerian Army (formerly Royal West African Frontier Force) was founded in 1990. They were trained by the British and also helped them to fight World War 2.


First, the focus of this article is to help readers have an insight to the salary structure of the Nigerian Army salaries.

However, let’s shed some light to the brief history and functions of these gallant men.

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The functions of the Nigerian armed forces encompass:

  • Defending Nigeria from external aggression;
  • Maintaining its territorial integrity and securing its borders from violation on land, sea, or air;
  • Suppress insurrection and act in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly and
  • Perform such other functions as may be prescribed by an act of the National Assembly.

It is also important to note that apart from the Nigeria Police Force where ranks and ranking are significant, the practice has been earlier rooted and entrenched in the Nigerian armed forces which include the army, navy and the air force.  Officers  in  the  Nigerian  armed  forces  are  categorised  into  commissioned  and  non-commissioned. The commissioned officers are the ones in senior ranks while the non-commissioned are the rank and file, the very junior officers.

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The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the largest among the armed forces. Major formations include the 1st Division, the 2nd Division, the 3rd Armoured Division, 81st Division, 82nd Division, and newly formed 7th Division.

The commissioned officers for the Nigerian Army are as follows:

  1. Field Marshal.
  2. General.
  3. Lieutenant General.
  4. Major General.
  5. Brigadier General.
  6. Colonel.
  7. Lieutenant Colonel.
  8. Major.
  9. Captain.
  10. First Lieutenant.
  11. Second Lieutenant.


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There are eight ranks of the non-commissioned officers in the Nigerian Army.

  1. Master Warrant Officer
  2. Warrant Officer
  3. Staff Sergeant
  4. Sergeant
  5. Corporal
  6. Lance Corporal
  7. Private
  8. Recruit


Most people think military men receive an awesome paycheck considering the risks they take trying to save lives, let’s see how true it is…

The categories and ranks of the Army, with their respective salaries are thus as follows;

S/N CATEGORIES SALARIES
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
1 Field Marshal Yet to be attained
2 General N1,500.000
3 Lieutenant General N1,000,000
4 Major General N950,000
5 Brigadier General N750,000
6 Colonel N550,000
7 Lieutenant Colonel N350,000
8 Major N300,000
9 Captain N220,000
10 Lieutenant N180,000
11 Second Lieutenant N120,000
  NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
1 Warrant Officer Class 1 N90,000
2 Warrant Officer Class 2 N80,000
3 Staff Sergeant N68,000
4 Sergeant N63,000
5 Corporal N58,000
6 Lance – corporal N55,000
7 Private N49,000
8 Recruit N/A

To see more salaries imputed by the Nigerian Army Officials, Click here

If you work for the Nigerian Army, you can drop a salary report here


Read our guide on how to re-negotiate salary

Frances Anonu

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