President Bola Tinubu has approved the recruitment of 28,000 additional soldiers and the expansion of police manpower to 50,000 officers as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture and tackle rising insecurity.
The development was disclosed by the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council in a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson, Dele Alake.
According to the council, the recruitment drive is part of a proposed Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan aimed at improving military effectiveness, expanding operational capacity and strengthening the country’s response to terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities.
The council said the additional military personnel would strengthen the presence of troops across the country and improve the Armed Forces’ operational effectiveness.
It also disclosed that Tinubu had authorised the recruitment of 50,000 police officers to reinforce internal security, improve policing capacity and enhance the response to criminal activities.
The police recruitment target, however, follows the President’s November 2025 directive authorising an additional 20,000 officers, bringing the planned recruitment figure to 50,000.
As part of the military expansion programme, the administration has also established four new Army divisions and restructured existing military formations to improve operational coverage and enable troops to respond more effectively to security threats.
The council further disclosed that the President had approved the establishment of two additional Army training depots in Osogbo, Osun State, and Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State, to expand training capacity and accelerate the recruitment of soldiers.
It said each facility could accommodate 6,000 recruits at a time, giving the two depots a combined training capacity of 12,000 personnel.
The Osogbo facility currently has 5,210 recruits undergoing training, according to the statement.
On military welfare and infrastructure, the council said the administration was investing in accommodation and operational facilities, including a 700-unit military barracks project in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
It added that the investments were designed to address manpower and infrastructure gaps, improve personnel welfare and ensure security operatives were adequately trained, equipped and deployed to areas facing security challenges.
The council also claimed that military operations across the country had resulted in the elimination of more than 15,000 Boko Haram terrorists and bandits in the last three years.
It further claimed that more than 130,000 Boko Haram fighters and their dependants had surrendered through Operation Safe Corridor, the Federal Government’s rehabilitation programme for repentant insurgents.
The council said the Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan would provide a framework for aligning defence priorities, operational requirements, capability development and expenditure with Nigeria’s security challenges.
It added that the initiative would strengthen combat readiness, address critical capability gaps, optimise available resources and minimise unnecessary expenditure.
Nigeria continues to grapple with multiple security challenges, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry and mass abductions in the North-West and North-Central regions, as well as other forms of violent crime across the country.
