President Bola Tinubu has launched a comprehensive Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan aimed at ending the 17-year scourge of insecurity in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council announced in a statement on Sunday.
According to the statement signed by APC PCC Spokesperson Dele Alake, the plan is designed to strengthen the country’s security architecture, improve military effectiveness, and ensure a coordinated response to emerging threats. It provides a long-term framework for aligning defence priorities, operational requirements, capability development, and expenditure with Nigeria’s current and anticipated security challenges.
The initiative is described as a major component of the President’s determination to reposition the nation’s security architecture toward a more coordinated, intelligence-led, technology-enabled, and prevention-oriented system capable of addressing terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of criminality.
Major Gains Against Insurgency
The statement disclosed that in the last three years, the scale of the administration’s ongoing military operations across the country has led to the elimination of more than 15,000 Boko Haram terrorists and bandits. Additionally, more than 130,000 fighters and dependents of Boko Haram have surrendered through Operation Safe Corridor, the Federal Government’s rehabilitation programme for repentant insurgents.
These figures, according to the APC, underscore the administration’s two-phase approach of sustained military operations and non-kinetic interventions to address insecurity.
Expansion of Military Formations and Manpower
To strengthen the Nigerian Army’s operational capacity, President Tinubu has created four new Army divisions and restructured existing military formations. The reforms aim to expand operational coverage, decentralise military operations, and enable troops to respond more swiftly to security threats across the country.
The President has also approved the establishment of two additional Army depots in Osogbo, Osun State, and Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State, to expand military training capacity and accelerate the recruitment and training of new soldiers. Each depot can accommodate 6,000 recruits at a time, bringing their combined training capacity to 12,000 soldiers. The Osogbo facility’s capacity is already being demonstrated, with 5,210 recruits currently undergoing training there.
Furthermore, President Tinubu has approved the recruitment of an additional 28,000 soldiers to strengthen the military’s presence on the ground and enhance operational effectiveness. He has also approved the recruitment of 50,000 additional police officers as part of broader efforts to reinforce internal security and improve policing capacity.
Infrastructure and Welfare Investments
Beyond investments in equipment, technology, and training, the administration is also investing in military accommodation and operational infrastructure to improve personnel welfare and effectiveness. One such project is the 700-unit military barracks in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, designed to provide military personnel with a professional living and working environment and essential military infrastructure.
Strategic Approach to National Defence
Under the Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan, the Federal Government is adopting a more strategic approach to national defence by ensuring that investments in the security sector are guided by clearly identified threats, operational requirements, and national priorities. The plan is expected to strengthen combat readiness, address critical capability gaps, optimise available resources, and minimise unnecessary expenditure and wastage.