Nigerian Army Salary by Rank: Pay Bands, Allowances and the Latest Pay Rise
The Nigerian Army salary scale changed on 1 September 2026, when a presidential pay rise of between 30% and 80% took effect across the armed forces. The increase covers the Army, Navy and Air Force, and it is tiered, with the lowest ranks receiving the largest percentage. The Presidency has not published a new rank-by-rank salary table. This guide sets out what the State House statement confirms, how the Army’s ranks are ordered, how military pay is built from CONAFSS and allowances, and which monthly figures are press estimates rather than official numbers. All details are current at the time of writing.
What changed with the latest pay rise
President Bola Tinubu approved the increases in a statement dated 4 August 2026 and issued by Bayo Onanuga, his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy. The State House text says the new rates apply from 1 September 2026 to about 250,000 personnel. It puts the yearly armed forces salary bill at ₦924 billion, up from ₦660 billion.
Vanguard later reported that September salaries reflecting the new rates had been paid, citing unnamed sources who said soldiers and officers were satisfied. The same report did not say whether the percentages apply to basic salary or to the full consolidated package.
Premium Times added two cautions. The Presidency did not explain the 250,000 figure, which sits above public estimates of roughly 230,000 active personnel, and it had not released the revised salary table.
How much more each Nigerian Army rank group receives
The statement sets three bands, defined by rank. Nairametrics, the News Agency of Nigeria, ICIR and Vanguard all repeat the same split.
| Rank group | Ranks covered | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| Junior soldiers | Private to staff sergeant | 80% |
| Middle ranks | Warrant officer to colonel | 50% |
| General officers | Brigadier General to General | 30% |
A percentage rise applies to each rank’s existing pay, so the naira gain depends on the starting point. A rise of 80% means multiplying the old figure by 1.8, a rise of 50% by 1.5 and a rise of 30% by 1.3.
A separate figure is easy to confuse with the September rise. In a July 2026 interview with News Central TV, Defence Minister Christopher Musa said the lowest-paid soldier’s monthly pay had gone from ₦49,000 to ₦100,000. Premium Times noted it was unclear whether that was part of the new review or an earlier change, and the two numbers have not been reconciled in public. The ₦100,000 figure should not be read as the post-September minimum.
Nigerian Army ranks from private to general
The Nigerian Army Finance Corps lists the Army’s ranks in three groups: commissioned officers, warrant officers and soldiers. The table below runs from the bottom of the ladder upwards and shows which Nigerian Army salary band each rank falls into. The Navy and Air Force use their own rank titles, but the approval was made for armed forces personnel as a whole. For another African army’s ladder, see our guide to Sudan Army ranks and the SAF rank ladder.
| Category | Rank | Pay-rise band |
|---|---|---|
| Soldier | Recruit | Not stated |
| Soldier | Private | 80% |
| Soldier | Lance Corporal | 80% |
| Soldier | Corporal | 80% |
| Soldier | Sergeant | 80% |
| Soldier | Staff Sergeant | 80% |
| Warrant officer | Warrant Officer | 50% |
| Warrant officer | Master Warrant Officer | 50% |
| Warrant officer | Army Warrant Officer | 50% |
| Officer | Second Lieutenant | 50% |
| Officer | Lieutenant | 50% |
| Officer | Captain | 50% |
| Officer | Major | 50% |
| Officer | Lieutenant Colonel | 50% |
| Officer | Colonel | 50% |
| Officer | Brigadier General | 30% |
| Officer | Major General | 30% |
| Officer | Lieutenant General | 30% |
| Officer | General | 30% |
| Officer | Field Marshal | Not stated |
The Army page also lists Field Marshal above General, and Recruit below Private. The Presidency’s statement names neither, so no band is assigned to them here. The band for warrant officers is taken from the statement’s wording of “colonel down to warrant officer”.
How military pay is structured
The Nigerian Army salary, like pay across the other services, is built on the Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure, known as CONAFSS. According to Daily Trust, which cites the Manual for Financial Administration of the Armed Forces, CONAFSS covers a basic salary plus a set of consolidated allowances. The structure now in use dates from 1 July 2010 and is open to periodic review.
The consolidated allowances named in that reporting include:
- rent subsidy and utility allowance;
- hazard allowance and transport allowance;
- meal subsidy and uniform maintenance allowance;
- leave grant and furniture allowance.
Other payments sit on top and depend on circumstances. Packing on posting is 5% of annual CONAFSS at Step 5, paid once a year. Terminal packing for retiring or discharged personnel is 10%. A lodging allowance of 40% of CONAFSS is payable to those not housed in barracks or government quarters, subject to conditions.
Specialised operational allowances also exist. Daily Trust lists ₦50,000 a month each for amphibious force, special warfare and counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency duty. Many allowances are conditional, rank-specific or tied to deployment, so not every soldier receives all of them. The reports on the September review do not say whether these amounts changed.
What is publicly known about Nigerian Army salary by rank
There is no official monthly table for the new Nigerian Army salary rates. What circulates are press estimates, and their inputs differ. Daily Trust, on 10 August, published an 18-rank scale that applies the announced percentages to a pre-rise scale taken from RecruitUltra, an online platform. Leadership printed a shorter set of figures attributed to anonymous military sources. Legit.ng calculated its own, citing social media posts and a media report. None of the three presents its numbers as an official schedule.
| Rank | Before (₦ a month) | After (₦ a month) | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | about 104,000 | about 187,000 | Leadership |
| Private | 104,000 | 187,200 | Daily Trust |
| Private | about 104,000 | 189,000 to 192,000 | Legit.ng |
| Major | about 360,000 | about 540,000 | Leadership |
| Major | 380,000 | 570,000 | Daily Trust |
| Major General | 1,150,000 | 1,495,000 | Daily Trust |
| General | 2,500,000 | 3,250,000 | Daily Trust |
The estimates agree for a private and a major general, but they diverge for a major by ₦30,000 a month because the starting figure differs. Daily Trust states that its figures are basic monthly salaries, not the full package, so allowances come on top. Whether the Presidency’s percentages apply to basic pay or to the whole package has not been clarified.
One consequence of the tiering is visible in the Daily Trust estimates: a staff sergeant, on the 80% band, would end up above a warrant officer, on the 50% band (₦270,000 against ₦255,000). That follows from the method and the unofficial base figures, and no official table confirms it. Readers should treat every rank-level Nigerian Army salary figure in this section as an estimate until a schedule is released.
What the pay rise costs the budget
The move from ₦660 billion to ₦924 billion adds ₦264 billion a year, about 40% more than the old bill, according to Premium Times. Africanews, reporting with AP, gives the same increase. For scale, Daily Trust says the 2026 Appropriation Act allocates ₦3.16 trillion to the Ministry of Defence. How the wage bill is divided between the ministry and other budget lines has not been checked here.
The rise follows an approval on 23 July 2026 to expand the Army from eight to 12 divisions and recruit 28,000 additional personnel, reported by Vanguard through AllAfrica. The pay announcements do not say whether the ₦924 billion includes those recruits. Musa has also said defence funding remains inadequate, according to Daily Trust.
Nigeria’s equipment plans are a separate budget question. See our reporting on the Nigus Hercules and ADSL maintenance plan and our analysis of the HAVELSAN-DICON MoU.
FAQ
How much is the Nigerian Army salary after the latest pay rise?
No official figure has been published by rank. The Presidency announced only percentage bands. Press estimates put a private at about ₦187,000 a month, up from about ₦104,000, but these are calculated from unofficial base figures. Allowances are paid in addition to basic pay, so actual take-home pay varies by rank, posting and duty.
When did the military pay rise take effect?
The Nigerian Army salary increase took effect on 1 September 2026. The Presidency announced it on 4 August, and the State House published the statement on 5 August. Vanguard reported that September salaries reflecting the new rates were subsequently paid, although it did not give an exact payment date.
Which ranks received the biggest increase?
Private to staff sergeant received the largest rise, at 80%. Warrant officers up to colonels received 50%, and brigadier generals and above received 30%. Because each percentage applies to existing pay, a 30% rise on a general’s salary can exceed an 80% rise on a private’s in naira terms, on the press estimates above.
What is CONAFSS?
CONAFSS is the Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure, the framework that sets pay for Nigerian service personnel. Daily Trust describes it as a basic salary plus consolidated allowances such as rent subsidy, transport and hazard pay. The structure now in use dates from 1 July 2010. Several incidental allowances are calculated as a percentage of CONAFSS.
Sources
- State House: President Tinubu Approves Salary Increases for Armed Forces Personnel
- Premium Times via AllAfrica: Tinubu Approves Up to 80% Salary Increase for Nigerian Soldiers
- Nairametrics: Tinubu approves up to 80% salary increase for armed forces personnel
- News Agency of Nigeria: Tinubu approves salary increase for armed forces personnel
- ICIR: Tinubu approves salary increase for military personnel
- Africanews: Nigeria’s Tinubu approves up to 80% pay rise for soldiers
- Vanguard: Military personnel receive new salary increases
- Daily Trust: N187,200 to N3.25m, Military’s new pay scale
- Daily Trust: Surviving on a soldier’s N100,000 salary
- Leadership via AllAfrica: Military Minimum Wage Hits N187,000
- Legit.ng: Estimated new salary of Nigerian military from Private to Major General
- Nigerian Army Finance Corps: Nigerian Army military ranks
