Function and duties of Nigerian army

Monday, February 15, 2021 at 7:12 AM by Adrianna Simwa

How much do you know about the armed forces in Nigeria and their primary functions? Are you familiar with the duties of Nigerian army?

Function and duties of the Nigerian army

Photo: punchng.com

Nigerian Armed Forces

Before we discuss the duties of Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF), we should understand the difference between NAF and the Nigerian Army (NA). Well, NAF is much bigger than NA because the Nigerian Army is one of the biggest components of the Armed Forces which, in their turn, also consist of navy, air force, and international services.

When talking about the duties of the Nigerian Armed Forces, we would like to focus mainly on the duties and functions of Nigerian Army. Why? The answer is simple. Being the most important and largest component of NAF, NA takes all the responsibilities for operations in land conflicts. In other words, the Nigerian Army takes the main responsibility for the security of each citizen and the whole nation.

What are the duties of Nigerian Army?

Since it accounts several Divisions (First, Second, Seventh, etc.) and has approximately 150,000 soldiers and several thousand officers, the army is big enough to offer protection to the land, nation and the country from any organized enemy. Defeating the country from enemies is one of the top duties of the Nigerian Army, and it has been like this since the creation of this body.

Since the Nigerian Armed Forces have contemporary weapons, officers and soldiers who are professionally trained, and a new program for the twenty-first century, it is great when you understand the most important duties of the Nigerian Army.

Here they are:

To follow the Constitution.
To maintain the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
To defend country from external aggression.
To protect the country’s borders.
To restore order if needed and in cases of insurrection.
To perform any other duties mentioned in the National Assembly’s Act or as directed by the President.

Functions of Nigerian Army

It is true that NA is fully governed by NAC (this abbreviation stands for the Nigerian Army Council), and its main functions, as well as duties, are described in the Constitution. However, while obeying to every task set by NAC, the army which has to do everything to protect the people and country’s integrity in the first place often has to perform other functions that go beyond its primary duties.

Here are some of the functions of our army:

To guard areas of high importance.
To offer some emergency services
To gain professional skills required for performing the moral duties.
To make sure that the equipment of the army and all the establishments are up-to-date and in a good working condition.
To coordinate the enforcement of immigration laws and customs.
To perform basic defensive operations

As you can see, the duties of Nigerian Armed Forces have the moral aspect and obligation to follow the Constitution while functions refer more to everyday tasks performed by soldiers.