President Bola Tinubu recently approved the creation of four new Divisions for the Nigerian Army as part of measures to boost the fight against insecurity in the country. This brings to 12 the number of Army Divisions in the country. To ensure adequate personnel for the new divisions, President Tinubu also approved the recruitment of an additional 28,000 soldiers.
The expansion builds on the administration’s sustained investments in the Armed Forces, iincluding the acquisition of critical military platforms and equipment, improvements in troop welfare, and ongoing support for operational readiness and force modernisation.
This approval underscores the President’s unwavering commitment to equipping the Armed Forces to address Nigeria’s evolving security challenges effectively and to further strengthen national defence capabilities.
The establishment of the new Divisions is expected to significantly improve command and control, decentralise operational decision-making, strengthen border security, enhance the protection of critical national infrastructure, improve counter-insurgency and internal security operations, and ensure faster military response to emerging threats nationwide
The expansion is a critical response designed to shorten response times and give security forces the numerical and geographic capacity to defeat terrorism and banditry.
The new 5th Division will be located in Makurdi , the Benue state capital, covering Benue, Nasarawa, and Kogi states, while the 9th Division located in Ilorin, , Kwara State, covers Kwara and Niger states.. The new 10th Division based in Jalingo, Taraba State will cover border areas of Taraba and Adamawa States, with the 83rd Division located in Benin City, Edo State covering Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa states
Phase one of the rollout will run through September 2026 covering the 5th, 9th, and 10th Divisions, while phase two will be completed in December 2026.with the full operationalisation of 83rd division .
The hiring of 28,000 new soldiers is targeted at staffing the expanded battalions and covering previously vulnerable areas..
The simultaneous creation of four new divisions is the largest single expansion of the Nigerian Army in Nigeria’s modern history.
The states covered by the new divisions show a deliberate move by the President to restore security to places such as Kwara, Benue, Edo, Nasarawa , Kogi and Niger being ravaged by bandits, insurgents and kidnappers. .
President Tinubu’s decision to create the new Army Divisions came a few days after the US President Donald Trump commended his courage and commitment to tackling terrorism in Nigeria
Trump in a letter to Tinubu stated that he was honoured to stand with him in the fight against the terrorists and to make the Federal Republic of Nigeria stronger and more prosperous. The U.S. President emphasized mutual goals outlined in the 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and the deployment of of elite U.S. Special Operations Forces to train and equip the Nigerian military with advanced intelligence and operational capabilities.. He also made reference to the joint operations and the recent collaborative actions, including the May 16, 2026 operation in the Lake Chad region that led to the elimination of top ISIS commander Abubakar Al-Minoki and other leaders.
The fight against terrorism is not over, but the recent operational successes, the increasing foreign support and President recent bold decisions such as the creation of new Army Divisions, point to the fact that the battle is systematically being won
*Owaikhena Osikhekha is a Public Affairs Analyst based in Lagos
