Nigerian Armed Forces

rdf:langString Nigerian Armed Forces

rdf:langString Nigerian Armed Forces

rdf:langString Nigerian Armed Forces

rdf:langString Flag of the Nigerian Armed Forces

rdf:langString Emblem of the Nigerian Armed Forces by service branches

rdf:langString Nigeria

rdf:langString Military history of Nigeria

rdf:langString The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, exercising his constitutional authority through the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for the management of the military and its personnel. The operational head of the AFN is the Chief of the Defence Staff, who is subordinate to the Nigerian Defence Minister. With a force of more than 223,000 active personnel, the Nigerian military is one of the largest uniformed combat services in Africa. According to Global Firepower, the Nigerian Armed Forces are the fourth-most powerful military in Africa, and ranked 35th on its list, internationally. The Nigerian Armed Forces were established in 1960 as the successor to the combat units of the Royal West African Frontier Force stationed in the country, which had previously served as the British Empire's multi-battalion field force, during Nigeria's protectorate period. Shortly after its formation, the NAF was engaged in combat operations against the secessionist state of Biafra, during the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970. At this point in time, the Nigerian military ballooned in strength from 85,000 personnel in 1967, to more than 250,000 troops by the war's end. In the years following the civil war, the Nigerian Armed Forces were halved in size from its post-war height to approximately 125,000 men. In spite of this contraction in the size and funding of its Armed Forces, Nigeria would boast the only military in West Africa capable of engaging in foreign military operations, such as during its intervention in Liberian civil war in 1990. Nigeria's Armed Forces would continue to remain an active element in combat operations throughout the African continent over the proceeding decades, with bobs notable engagements including its 2017 involvement as part of the ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia. Today, the NAF faces a number of domestic challenges which continue to undermine stability within Nigeria and the region as a whole. Some of these threats include the ongoing conflict against the jihadist rebel group, Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, which has been in effect since July 2009. Likewise, Nigeria has been engaged in a long-running anti-piracy campaign in the Niger Delta, which has threatened the vital petroleum industry in the country, which is the source of 90% of Nigeria's exports and 35% of the government's revenue. Compounding this state of affairs is the role corruption plays in the ongoing attempts to strengthen the armed forces. Corruption has historically weakened the Nigerian military's capacity to face internal security threats, and is cited as being responsible for the continued longevity of rebels and terrorists operating throughout the nation. In spite of these challenges to its operational readiness, the Nigerian Armed Forces have committed to a number of wide-ranging modernization programs to bolster the discipline and firepower of its troops. This includes the acquisition of new armored vehicles, combat aircraft and aerial reconnaissance drones, and the refurbishing of naval vessels, which had suffered from a prolonged periods of poor or minimal maintenance. These trends in the development of the armed forces as a fighting force, as well as efforts to combat corruption within the ranks of military personnel and government bureaucracy, have been critically important in the ability of Nigeria to confront challenges to its national security and stability in the wider region of West Africa as a whole.