Fresh and explosive disclosures reveal that Nigerian soldiers deployed to the North-East to fight Boko Haram are being paid only N20,000 a month from a Scarce Skills Allowance that the Federal Government approved at N100,000.
The revelations, obtained by SaharaReporters, suggest a long running pattern of underpayment and alleged diversion that stretches back to the 2017 Manual of Financial Administration for the Armed Forces (MAFA).
Soldiers on the front line say the short-changing is routine. “Yes, the Federal Government approved the payment of N100,000 per soldier, but we’re collecting just N20,000 each,” one soldier told SaharaReporters.
Troops also say the Nigerian Air Force reportedly raised its allowance to N50,000 while the Army has refused to follow suit, leaving infantrymen and junior ranks trapped on starvation pay while risking their lives.
The MAFA, signed into effect in November 2017, explicitly lists the Scarce Skills Allowance at N100,000 for military personnel irrespective of rank. The document has been publicly available since investigative outlets obtained it in 2021, yet multiple accounts and subsequent audits suggest actual payments remain markedly lower, typically between N20,000 and N30,000.
The discrepancy represents not only a breach of official policy but a profound moral failure in the chain of command.
Historical patterns point to institutionalised malpractice. Similar grievances were espoused in 2021 when rank and file complained that allowances approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari had either not been paid or were grossly underpaid.
At the time soldiers accused Army leadership of diverting funds and pointed to unexplained payroll gaps and unauthorised deductions, including controversial charges under a Nigerian Army Welfare Housing Scheme that saw deductions as high as N49,000 without meaningful consultation.
The human cost is immediate and measurable. Junior soldiers serving in theatres of conflict report mounting hardship. Families go hungry. School fees go unpaid. Morale disintegrates. Troops warn that sustained underpayment and opaque financial practices will inevitably erode fighting readiness and operational cohesion, weakening Nigeria’s counter-insurgency effort at precisely the moment it can least afford it.
These are not abstract complaints but frontline testimony from men and women who face daily mortal danger. (Primary reporting above.)
Official pushback has been mixed. While some outlets and veterans groups have amplified complaints and called for parliamentary oversight and forensic audits, the Army has at times denied or downplayed certain allegations.
A July 2025 statement from Army public relations channels disputed selective media claims about delayed promotions and pay stagnation, an assertion that critics say does not address the specific MAFA shortfalls alleged by serving soldiers. Independent, transparent scrutiny is therefore indispensable.
What must happen next is clear. The EFCC and ICPC should be invited to audit the flow of allowances from the moment MAFA was authorised in 2017 to the present. The Senate and House Committees on Army must hold closed door sessions with rank-and-file personnel free from officer interference to establish the true payroll trail.
Any official found to have misdirected funds must face both criminal prosecution and public dismissal. The integrity of Nigeria’s security apparatus depends on it.
For readers and policymakers the message is stark. A nation that asks its soldiers to confront terror on the front line cannot at the same time starve them of promised entitlements.
The alleged systematic short-changing of allowances is not merely administrative negligence. It is an act that endangers national security and betrays the very people the state entrusts with its defence.
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