The annual salary of an Army General, Naval Admiral or Air-Chief Marshal in the Nigerian military is N20.69 million, or N1.72 million monthly, Economic Confidential diligent search has revealed.

In a report obtained by the Economic Intelligence magazine on the Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS) of all the rank and file of the armed forces, starting from a recruit or trainee to the General, Admiral and Air Chief Marshal, a recruit or trainee goes home with N122,848 annually, Private, Ordinary Seaman and Aircraftsman/Woman N639,990, while lance Corporal and Seaman also go home annually with N661,732.

The take-home-pay does not include allowances on special assignments, military operations, foreign missions, duty tours and estacode. However, from the Economic Confidential’ investigations and eventual computations, there is a great disparity between the annual salary of a recruit and a private with a difference of about N500,000.00 or half a million Naira, while the difference between a private and a lance Corporal is merely over N21,000.00!

Further analysis reveals that Corporal, Able Seaman and its equivalent in the AirForce take-home N693,426.00, annually, while a Sergeant both in the army and Air Force and Leading Seaman in the Navy goes home annually with N809,327 with a great gap of N115,000.00!

On that of Staff Sergeant and its equivalent in the navy and the Airforce, their take home pay per annum is N1,019,226.00, while the Warrant Officers across the board is put at N1,192,499 with a difference of N173,000.00.

The Master Warrant Officer in the three arms of the forces go home with annual salaries of N1,962,697.00, while Army warrant officer, Navy warrant officer and that of the Air-force Warrant officer take home N2,061,520.00 with a gap of about N98,000.00. Meanwhile, those in training as cadet officers go home with a paltry N534,773.00.

As for commissioned officers starting with second lieutenant in the army, Mid-shipman in the navy and Pilot Officer in the air-force, their annual salary is N2,245,909.00, while the next senior rank of Lieutenant, Sub-lieutenant and Flying Officer has an annual salary of N2,620,801 with a disparity of N374,000.00!

Meanwhile, a captain in the army, Lieutenant in the navy and Flight Lieutenant in the air-force go home with N2,789,818, while Major, Lieutenant Commander and Wing Commander has N2,976,052 annually with a difference of  about N186,000.00.

A Lieutenant Colonel, Commander or Wing Commander has an annual salary of N3,895,033, and when compared with that of a Major has a huge gap of N918,000. The gap also exists between Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, whose annual salary is N4,231,579.00 with a difference of N336,546.00.

Again a Brigadier General’s annual salary is N8,134,745. When compared to the Colonel’s salary of N4,231,579.00 with a difference of over N3,900,000.00. If you take a glance at the salary of a Major-General, Rear Admiral or Air Vice- Marshal, which is N16,516,124 and place it side by side with that of Brigadier General, the difference is a whopping N8,381,379!

A Lieutenant General, Vice-Admiral and Air Marshal has an annual salary of N17,837,414, while Army General, Admiral of the navy and Air Chief Marshal all have an annual salary of N20,691,400 with a gap of N2.8 million.

Speaking to Economic Confidential on the disparities in the CONAFSS, a cross-section of both retired and serving military officers appealed to the authorities to tinker with the ‘great gulf’ in the salary structure among the rank and file to act as a morale booster in the armed forces apart from engendering loyalty. They added that there are grumblings here and there in the military which may result to outburst if not handled properly.”