The Nigerian military has experienced a three-place drop in the latest global military ranking released by Global Firepower.
The Armed Forces of Nigeria now occupy the 39th position out of 145 countries assessed in 2024, marking a decline from its 36th rank in 2023 and 35th in 2022.
This marks the second consecutive year of decline, despite significant investments in military assets such as fighter jets and other combat enablers, along with reported victories against terrorist groups within the country.
Regionally, Nigeria also slipped from third to fourth place among African nations.
Egypt remains the continent’s top-ranked military, followed by Algeria, South Africa, and then Nigeria. Ethiopia, Angola, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tunisia, and Sudan complete Africa’s top ten.
On the global stage, the United States continues to lead the rankings for the 18th straight year, described by GFP as demonstrating “commanding values in many major material, financial, and resource categories.”
Following the U.S. are Russia, China, and India, occupying the second, third, and fourth spots, respectively.
South Korea ranks fifth, with the United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Italy rounding out the top ten.
France, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, and Egypt occupy positions 11 through 15, while Australia, Israel, Ukraine, Germany, and Spain complete the top 20.
The GFP report explained that its ranking system evaluates over 60 factors, including military assets, financial strength, logistical capabilities, and geography.
Smaller, technologically advanced nations can compete with larger, less-developed powers due to GFP’s unique formula, which includes bonuses and penalties to refine the results.
“Nigeria is ranked 39th out of 145 countries in the 2024 GFP review, with a PwrIndx score of 0.5619 (a score of 0.0000 is considered ‘perfect’),” the report stated. It noted that the entry was last reviewed on January 9, 2024.
The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, when asked about the ranking, responded, “I am not aware of the ranking and I can’t comment on it.”
