In terms of power, Nigeria’s armed forces are rated fourth in Africa and thirty-fifth globally.
Data from Global Firepower support this. The data indicates that Nigeria’s military has continuously expanded since the start of the Buhari government.
As to the Global Firepower ranking, a nation’s military capabilities increases with a decrease in its power index. An index of perfect power is 0.000.
The military strength index for the nation is now 0.5745, a little gain over the power index of 0.62 in 2021.
Multiple criteria are combined into eight indicators to calculate the power index. They consist of resources, people, air power, naval power, land system, logistics, finances, and geography.
Nigeria has consistently ranked fourth and fifth among the 54 nations in Africa in terms of military might during the past seven years. Conversely, Egypt has managed to hold the top spot, making it the nation with the greatest military might during the period under consideration.
High on the list are Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Libya, and Morocco, among other nations.
In terms of military might, Egypt is ranked 12th in the world in 2022, behind South Africa, Algeria, and Ethiopia, who are ranked 26, 31, and 65, respectively.
The Buhari Administration’s Military Strength Power Index for Nigeria
Nigeria’s power index was 1.526 in 2015, the lowest value throughout the time under study, according to statistics from Global Firepower. However, a significant decrease was observed in 2016 when 0.786 was reported. The most recent power index for Nigeria is 0.575.
Current data also reveals that Nigeria has a total military personnel of 215,000 out of which 135,000 are active and 80,000 make up the paramilitary.
So far under the Buhari Administration, the Nigerian Air force has acquired a total of 38 aircraft, the Nigerian navy acquired close to 400 new platforms since 2015 which includes 14 houseboats, 4 helicopters, 4 capital ships, 12 manta class/inshore patrol craft, and 22 fast attack boats among others.
The president also gave a directive to the Nigerian Navy to establish a naval base in Baga, Borno State, an area prone to criminal activities near the nation’s coast.
The President also mobilised international support for the fight against Boko Haram from countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, ECOWAS, UN, and AU, which led to the United Statesagreeing to sell 12 Super Tucano aircrafts to Nigeria in 2017.
