Niger vs. Nigeria
Military
| Niger | Nigeria | |
|---|---|---|
| Military branches | Nigerien Armed Forces (Forces Armees Nigeriennes, FAN): Army, Nigerien Air Force, Niger Gendarmerie (GN); Ministry of Interior: Niger National Guard (GNN; aka Republican Guard), National Police (includes the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance, which is charged with border management) (2020) note: the Gendarmerie is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense and has primary responsibility for rural security; the National Guard is responsible for domestic security and the protection of high-level officials and government buildings | Nigerian Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Coast Guard), Air Force; Ministry of Interior: Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC, a paramilitary agency commissioned to assist the military in the management of threats to internal security, including attacks and natural disasters) (2021) |
| Military service age and obligation | has conscription, although it is reportedly not always enforced; 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory or voluntary military service; enlistees must be Nigerien citizens and unmarried; 2-year service term; women may serve in health care (2019) | 18-26 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.8% of GDP (2019) 2.5% of GDP (2018) 2.5% of GDP (2017) 2.2% of GDP (2016) 2.1% of GDP (2015) | 0.5% of GDP (2019) 0.5% of GDP (2018) 0.4% of GDP (2017) 0.4% of GDP (2016) 0.4% of GDP (2015) |
| Military - note | as of late 2020, the FAN was conducting counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations against Islamic militants on two fronts; in the Diffa region, the Nigeria-based Boko Haram terrorist group has conducted dozens of attacks on security forces, army bases, and civilians; on Niger's western border with Mali, the Islamic State-West Africa (ISWA) has conducted numerous attacks on security personnel; a series of ISWA attacks on FAN forces near the Malian border in December of 2019 and January of 2020 resulted in the deaths of more than 170 soldiers; terrorist attacks continued throughout 2020 and into 2021 Niger is part of a five-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Chad; it has committed 1,100 troops and 200 gendarmes to the force; in early 2020, G5 Sahel military chiefs of staff agreed to allow defense forces from each of the states to pursue terrorist fighters up to 100 km into neighboring countries; the G5 force is backed by the UN, US, and France; G5 troops periodically conduct joint operations with French forces deployed to the Sahel under Operation Barkhane Niger also has about 1,000 troops committed to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram; national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own country territories, although cross-border operations are conducted periodically | the Nigerian Armed Forces are used primarily for internal security operations; in the northeast, the military is conducting counterinsurgency/counter-terrorist operations against the Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) terrorist groups, where it has deployed as many as 70,000 troops at times and jihadist-related violence has killed an estimated 35,000 people, mostly civilians, since 2009 (as of Dec 2020); in the northwest, it faces threats from criminal gangs, bandits, and militants associated with ongoing farmer-herder violence, as well as BH and ISWA terrorists; the military also focuses on the Niger Delta region to protect the oil industry against militants and criminal activity, although the levels of violence there have decreased in recent years; in May 2021, a contingent of military troops and police were deployed to eastern Nigeria to quell renewed agitation for a state of Biafra (Biafra seceded from Nigeria in the late 1960s, sparking a civil war that caused more than 1 million deaths) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | information varies; approximately 10,000 active troops (est. 6,000 Army; 200 Air Force; 4,000 Gendarmerie); est. 3,000 National Guard (2020) | size estimates for the Nigerian Armed Forces vary; approximately 135,000 active personnel (100,000 Army; 20,000 Navy/Coast Guard; 15,000 Air Force); est. 80,000 Security and Civil Defense Corps (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the FAN's inventory consists of a wide variety of older weapons; since 2010, the FAN has received small amounts of mostly second-hand equipment and donations from China, France, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, and the US (2020) | the Nigerian Armed Forces' inventory consists of a wide variety of imported weapons systems of Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, Russian (including Soviet-era), and US origin; since 2010, Nigeria has undertaken a considerable military modernization program, and has received equipment from some 20 countries with China, Russia, and the US as the leading suppliers; Nigeria has been the largest arms importer in sub-Saharan Africa since 2014; Nigeria is also developing a defense-industry capacity, including small arms, armored personnel vehicles, and small-scale naval production (2020) |
| Military deployments | 870 Mali (MINUSMA) (Jan 2021) | 200 Ghana (ECOMIG); MNJTF (1 brigade or approximately 3,000 troops committed; note - the national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own country territories, although cross-border operations are conducted periodically) (2021) |
Source: CIA Factbook
