By Dennis Okechukwu
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has developed a Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan aimed at ending insecurity across Nigeria through improved military capacity, intelligence gathering, technology and coordinated security operations.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council disclosed this in a press statement issued on Sunday, November 15, 2026, by its spokesperson, Dele Alake.
According to the council, the plan is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture and provide a long-term framework for aligning defence priorities, operational requirements, military capabilities and expenditure with the country’s present and emerging security challenges.
It said the initiative formed part of Tinubu’s determination to end the 17-year security crisis affecting several parts of the country, particularly terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities.
The council claimed that military operations conducted across the country in the last three years had resulted in the elimination of more than 15,000 Boko Haram terrorists and bandits.
It also disclosed that over 130,000 Boko Haram fighters and their dependents had surrendered through Operation Safe Corridor, the Federal Government’s rehabilitation programme for repentant insurgents.
The council described the figures as evidence of the administration’s two-pronged security strategy, combining sustained military operations with non-kinetic interventions aimed at addressing the root causes of insecurity.
On efforts to expand military manpower and operational capacity, the APC campaign council said Tinubu had established four new Army divisions and restructured existing military formations to improve operational coverage and enable troops to respond more quickly to security threats.
It added that the President had approved the establishment of two additional Army depots in Osogbo, Osun State, and Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State, to increase military training capacity and accelerate the recruitment of new soldiers.
According to the statement, the two facilities can accommodate 6,000 recruits each, giving them a combined capacity to train 12,000 soldiers at a time.
The Osogbo facility, it said, currently has 5,210 recruits undergoing training.
The council further disclosed that Tinubu had approved the recruitment of an additional 28,000 soldiers to strengthen the military’s presence across the country and improve its operational effectiveness.
Similarly, the President had approved the recruitment of 50,000 additional police officers as part of efforts to reinforce internal security and improve the capacity of the police to tackle criminal activities.
On military infrastructure and personnel welfare, the council highlighted the ongoing development of a 700-unit military barracks in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
It said the project was designed to provide military personnel with suitable accommodation, a professional working environment and essential operational infrastructure to strengthen security operations in the area.
The statement noted that the administration’s investments in manpower, training facilities, accommodation and operational infrastructure were intended to address existing gaps in the security sector and ensure that personnel were adequately trained, equipped and deployed to areas facing security challenges.
On intelligence gathering, surveillance and coordination, the council said the Five-Year Strategic Defence Operations Plan would introduce a more strategic approach to national defence by ensuring that security investments were guided by clearly identified threats, operational requirements and national priorities.
It added that the framework was expected to improve combat readiness, address critical capability gaps, optimise available resources and reduce unnecessary expenditure and wastage.
The council maintained that the planned reforms would reposition Nigeria’s security architecture towards a more coordinated, intelligence-led, technology-enabled and prevention-oriented system capable of responding effectively to the country’s evolving security challenges.