The Nigerian Military forces are a vital part of the sovereign welfare of the country. In Nigeria, all member of the military force all serve a particular function in all areas of the country. To that end, the Nigerian force has been divided into three functioning components to include: the Army, Airforce and Navy. The Army consist of foot soldiers whose training oversees providing land territorial defense for the country. The Airforce is trained to oversee defense for the Nigerian airspace while the Navy provides defense for Nigerian territorial waters.
However in this article, we are going to be focusing more on the Nigerian Army, ranks in the Nigerian army from highest to lowest, Nigerian Army ranks and symbols as well as Nigerian army ranks and salary structure.
Nigerian Army Ranks from Highest to Lowest
In order to properly understand the Nigerian army, you need to follow closely on each rank as we have outlined below:
The Nigerian Army consists of commissioned and non-commissioned officers. The non-commissioned officers consist of eight ranks to include:
Starting from highest to lowest:
- Master Warrant Officer/Sergeant First Class.
- Warrant Officer/Master Sergeant
- Staff Sergeant
- Sergeant
- Corporal
- Lance Corporal
- Private
- Recruit
The commissioned officers consist of 12 ranks to include:
Starting from highest to lowest together with their star rankings
- Field Marshall: 5 star (the highest rank of the Nigerian army)
- General: 4 star
- Lieutenant General: 3 star
- Major General: 2 star
- Brigadier General: 1 star
- Colonel: No star
- Lieutenant Colonel: No star
- Deputy Colonel: No star
- Major: No star
- Captain: No star
- First Lieutenant: No star
- Second Lieutenant: No star
Nigerian Army Symbols and Nigerian Army Rank Symbols
In this section, we are going to be discussing all Nigerian Army symbols and Logos as well as Nigerian Army Rank symbols.
We start with the Nigerian Army Flag. What are the hidden meaning on the symbols represented on the Nigerian army Flag.
- The Eagle: The eagle represents the power and grace of the Nigerian army.
- The Star: The star stands for unity. The symbolic meaning could be tracked back to 1914, during the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates of Nigeria
- The Arabic Inscription: The Arabic inscription on the Nigeria Army flag means ‘Victory comes from God alone.
- The black color: represents the cavalry as well as other troops
- The red color: The red color represents the enemy forces waging war.
Nigerian Army Ranks and Symbols
In this section, we are going to be taking you through all the ranks of the Nigerian army and the logos that symbolize every one of them.
For Non-commissioned officers from lowest to highest:
- Recruits have no visible emblem on their uniforms
- Privates are known by a single mark on their shoulder
- Lance Corporals are also recognized by a single mark on the shoulder
- Corporals are recognized by a 2 marks on the shoulder
- Sergeants are recognized by a 3 marks on the shoulder
- Staff Sergeants are recognized by a 3 marks on the shoulder as well as the image of golden eagle at the top.
- Warrant Officers are recognized by a golden eagle insignia surrounded by a golden crown created out of olive leaves.
- Master Warrant Officers bear an insignia made up of the Nigerian Coat Of Arms (Click here to check out our most complete guide on the Nigerian Coat of Arms). The horses are all colored in silver while the rest of the insignia is in golden color.
For Commissioned Officers from lowest to highest:
- Second Lieutenants are recognized by a single silver star on both shoulders.
- First Lieutenants are recognized by 2 vertically aligned silver stars on both shoulders.
- Captains are recognized by 3 vertically aligned silver stars on both shoulders
- Majors are recognized by a silver eagle on both shoulders.
- Lieutenant Colonels are recognized by a vertically aligned silver star as well as a silver eagle on both shoulders.
- Colonels are recognized by 2 vertically aligned silver stars as well as a silver eagle (all vertically aligned) on both shoulders.
- Brigadiers are recognized by 3 silver stars that take the shape of a triangle and a silver eagle position at the top.
- Major Generals bear a golden emblem of the swords crossed against each other as well as a baton positioned under a golden colored eagle on both shoulders.
- Lieutenant General bear the vertically aligned swords cross against each other sword, a baton, an eagle as well as star. All emblems encrusted in gold and are found on both shoulders.
- Generals are distinguished by vertically aligned swords cross against each other sword, a baton, an eagle and two stars. All emblems are encrusted in gold and are found on both shoulders.
- The official emblem for an Army Field Marshal consist of vertically aligned swords cross against each other, 2 branches surrounding a baton and an eagle positioned on top. All emblems are encrusted in gold and are found on both shoulders.
Nigerian Army Ranks and Salary
The salaries for all Nigerian Army officers are all dependent on rank(See what it takes to pass through NDA as Army officer)(See what it takes to pass through NDA as Army officer).
For Non-Commissioned Officers starting from highest to lowest:
- Master Warrant Officer – N90,000
- Warrant Officer – N80,000
- Staff Sergeant – N68,000
- Sergeant – N63,000
- Corporal – N58,000
- A Lance Corporal earns between N54,000 to 55,000
- A Private Soldier earns between N48,000 to 49,000.
These are the monthly salaries for Commissioned officers from highest to lowest:
- A General earns about N1.5 million;
- A Lieutenant General earns about N1 million;
- A Major General earns about N950,000
- A Brigadier General earns about N750,000
- A Colonel earns about N550,000
- A Lieutenant Colonel earns about N350,000
- A Major earns about N300,000
- A Captain earns about N220,000
- A Lieutenant earns about N180,000
- A Second Lieutenant earns about N120,000.
Are you still interested in knowing more about the Nigerian Army? If you want to see all the Nigerian army ranks with the pictures of the ranks, click this link.
Author
Abbey Johnson has a Masters degree as an engineer and has over 3 years of teaching and research experience. He is happiest when on a bike and is also interested in electric energy and computer Science.