President Bola Tinubu has unveiled a comprehensive five-year strategic defence operations plan aimed at ending Nigeria’s 17-year security crisis, with the Federal Government claiming that military operations under his administration have eliminated more than 15,000 terrorists and bandits in three years.
The government also disclosed 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 development was announced in a statement issued on Sunday by Dele Alake, spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.
According to the statement, the five-year defence plan is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture, improve military effectiveness and establish a coordinated response to terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminality.
The initiative is expected to provide a long-term framework for aligning defence priorities, military operations, capability development and expenditure with the country’s current and emerging security challenges.
The campaign council said the plan reflects Tinubu’s determination to reposition the nation’s security system towards a more coordinated, intelligence-driven, technology-enabled and prevention-oriented approach.
It described the administration’s security strategy as a combination of sustained military offensives and non-kinetic interventions, including rehabilitation programmes for insurgents willing to surrender.
Tinubu creates four Army divisions, approves 28,000 soldiers
As part of efforts to expand the military’s operational capacity, the President has reportedly created four additional Army divisions and restructured existing military formations to improve operational coverage and enable faster responses to security threats.
The administration has also approved the establishment of two additional Army training depots in Osogbo, Osun State, and Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State.
The two facilities are expected to accommodate 6,000 recruits each, providing a combined training capacity of 12,000 soldiers at a time.
The Osogbo facility has already commenced operations, with 5,210 recruits currently undergoing training, according to the statement.
The government believes the expansion will shorten recruitment and training cycles while increasing the number of soldiers available for deployment across the country.
Tinubu has also approved the recruitment of an additional 28,000 soldiers to strengthen the military’s manpower and improve its capacity to tackle security threats.
In a related move, the President approved the recruitment of 50,000 additional police officers as part of broader efforts to reinforce internal security and improve policing across the country.
700-unit military barracks underway in Ekiti
Beyond recruitment and military formations, the administration is also investing in accommodation and operational infrastructure to improve personnel welfare and effectiveness.
One of the projects highlighted by the campaign council is a 700-unit military barracks in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The facility is designed to provide military personnel with improved residential accommodation and essential operational infrastructure to support their activities in the area.
The council said the investments were aimed at addressing manpower and infrastructure gaps while ensuring that security personnel were adequately trained, equipped and deployed to areas facing security challenges.
New plan targets intelligence, surveillance and military efficiency
The five-year strategic defence plan will also prioritise intelligence gathering, surveillance, operational coordination and the effective deployment of available resources.
According to the statement, the framework is expected to strengthen combat readiness, identify critical capability gaps, optimise defence spending and reduce unnecessary expenditure and wastage.
The campaign council maintained that the initiative represents a broader effort to build a security system capable of responding not only to existing threats but also to emerging security challenges.
The statement was signed by Alake on November 15, 2026.