Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved the recruitment of 28,000 additional military personnel alongside the creation of four new army divisions, marking the country's largest military expansion in recent times. The move, announced Thursday, is aimed at strengthening national security as Africa's most populous nation grapples with a complex web of armed threats across its vast territory.

Nigeria faces overlapping security crises, particularly in its northern regions. Militant Islamist groups have long operated in the north-east, while the north-west has seen a surge in violence from loosely organised "bandit" gangs — non-ideological criminal networks that carry out mass kidnappings and raids on villages. The situation has been further complicated by the spread of armed groups southward from the Sahel region. Last week alone, an armed gang killed at least 20 villagers in the north-western state of Zamfara, and 46 students were abducted from a school in the north-eastern state of Borno, though the army rescued them within hours.

The new measures go beyond personnel numbers. The government said the four additional army divisions — bringing the total to 12 — would improve coordination, intelligence sharing, and response times. Under the existing structure, individual divisions have been stretched thin, often responsible for security across multiple states simultaneously. The expansion will also include the purchase of new equipment and improvements in troop welfare. Local media reported that the minimum monthly wage for the lowest-paid soldiers has been doubled to 100,000 naira, equivalent to around $72. The military recruitment follows a separately announced drive to hire 50,000 additional police officers.

Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency last November in response to escalating mass kidnappings and violence, pledging to put more boots on the ground. His spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, described Thursday's approval as "a landmark move to enhance the country's security architecture." While authorities say they have made recent inroads against armed gangs, security analysts note that these criminal groups have grown increasingly sophisticated, and violence remains a persistent reality for millions of Nigerians.

The crisis has drawn international attention. US President Donald Trump has claimed that Nigeria's Christian population is being specifically targeted, a characterisation the Nigerian government has firmly rejected, stating that both Christians and Muslims are equally victims of the broadly criminal violence. The Nigerian presidency said Wednesday that Trump had since written to Tinubu praising his "decisive leadership" in addressing the security situation. With presidential elections due in January, the scale of Tinubu's security response will likely remain a central issue in Nigerian public life.