There is no strategic defence review or white paper [1]. Benin’s defense procurement planning appears to respond to the country’s immediate needs and security priorities, particularly in the face of growing threats such as terrorism and incursions in border regions. But also, specific acquisitions are often carried out as part of one-off projects. The defence sector often plans its purchases in multi-year budgets over three years [2]. But the full forecast planning for potential purchases is not made public [3]. This is strategic information kept secret by the government [1].

In Benin, potential defence purchases are generally not made public due to the sensitive nature of security and national defense. Although the government follows certain Public Procurement Code procedures for public procurement, there are often exceptions for defence-related purchases, where confidentiality is prioritized to protect national security interests. However, certain defence ordefence-related agreements may occasionally be announced or discussed, particularly where they involve international partnerships, but details are generally limited. For example, the Ministry of Defense has a Multi-annual Expenditure Programming document which provides support for actions and interventions of the Ministry of National Defense for the period 2022-2024 but the expenditures related to strengtening the army are not specifically detailed in the document [1]. There is no information made publicly available on purchase plans [2]. In Benin, procurement plans relating to defence and security needs are subject to validation by the Ministry of Defence’s public procurement control unit but the plan is not published [3].

Each budget year, an assessment of requirements is carried out within the army and purchases are planned. This assessment is updated throughout the budget year as new requirements arise. Procurement planning generally covers a period of less than a year. Burundi does not have a strategic defence review or a white paper [1]. Within the army, there are a number of reasons why procurement is not planned over the long term. There is a lack of rigorous strategic planning [2]. The army’s needs evolve extremely rapidly as new missions frequently emerge. In particular, peacekeeping missions and the commitment to missions linked to the volatility of the security context at both national and regional level.[3]

In the history of Burundi, there has never been any publication of the army’s annual needs assessments or of the resulting purchases. The relevant information is kept very secret [1]. The Minister of National Defence and the head of the national defence force have the discretionary power to decide who should be informed externally. These are generally businessmen who have become the army’s traditional suppliers [2].

The provisional defence plan regarding potential or future purchases is neither documented nor made public. Also defence purchases are not comprehensive and nothing is known in advance. There is no white paper.[1][2]

There is no publicly available information on forward purchase plans. The defence sector primarily falls under the domain of sovereignty. To this end, all information (from the simplest to the most complex) relating to defence purchases is kept secret. Likewise, certain calls for tenders for equipments of secret nature (weapons, munitions, war machines for example) are not detailed or even listed.[1] However, it sometimes happens that some purchases are revealed after the operation is completed. In such cases, the information could be disclosed by Honneur et Fidélité (The Magazine of the MINDEF) or by the official and national media. However, they often do not specify the cost of the equipment purchased. They just mentionned that Cameroon bought X or Y equipment from X or Y country.[2][3]

Defence procurement planning exists through programming laws, although the one for the period 2020-2025 has not yet been adopted. The most recent one covers the period 2016-2020 [1]. When the law is not presented to Parliament, it nevertheless serves as a plan for the ministry. There is no public debate. Also, each year, the budget conference reviews acquisitions, while the National Security Council meetings can make adjustments if the planning is outdated, as is often the case [2].

Programming laws, defence and security budgets and some National Security Council communiqués provide some insight into certain acquisitions, but much of this information is classified as defence secrets and is not available to the public. Furthermore, the acquisition plan is outdated and has only been updated once for the period 2020-2025 [1, 2, 3].

Section 21(2) of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2016 (Act 914) requires the MOD to submit its anticipated procurement plan one month before the end of the financial year. (1) The MOD has established a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2023-2026, the budget does not, however, include directly quoted estimates of the defence purchases. The forward planning for potential purchases spans less than five years, but the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) includes strategic planning for future expenditures (2) (3).

The MOD’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2023-2026 provides details of the ministry’s planned expenditures over the next three years. This period may allow for discussions by various groups on the various components of expenditure(1).The MTEF policy document by the MOD categorise the expenditure into three program segments as captured in the Medium Term Expenditure framework of the Ministry of Defence which includes Management and Administration ( SP.1.1 General Administration (Office of the Minister); SP.1.2 Finance and Administration, SP.1.3 Human Resource Management, SP.1.4 Policy Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation, SP.1.5 Research and Defence Cooperation, SP.1.6 Veterans Administration); Ghana Armed Forces (SP.2.1 General Headquarters, SP.2.2 Land Operations, SP.2.3 Naval Operations, SP.2.4 Air Operations, SP.2.5 Military Health Service, SP.2.6 Defence Advisors), and Armed Forces Capacity Building (SP.3.1 Military Academy and Training Schools (MATS), SP.3.2 Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), SP.3.3 Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre (KAIPTC)). (1) (2)

The current Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2027 highlights key performance indicators and budget prioritization through the years, including plans to complete the manufacturing of security hardware, machinery, and equipment. However, there are no other details of items the Ministry of Defence plans to purchase.[1] In the previous MTP 3, covering 2018-2022, there were no indications of any forward procurements.[2] Available evidence suggests that most plans are undertaken annually, aligning with the annual budgeting cycle. Consequently, Kenya lacks a 10-15 year forward planning approach.[3] Kenya’s budgeting is annual, and procurement plans are also done annually. For multi-year procurement, section 34 of the PPADA requires planning to be prepared in a format set out in the Regulations and consistent with the medium-term budgetary expenditure framework for projects or contracts that go beyond one year.[4]

Kenya’s long-term development blueprint, Vision 2030, is implemented through Medium-Term Plans (MTPs) which span five years. The MTP provides a top-level procurement forward plan for Defence but this plan is neither detailed nor sufficient to enable suppliers make plans in advance. There is no publicly available plan that could speak to this [1].
There is no information made publicly available on forward purchase plans by MoD. Section 53 of the PPADA requires public entities to publish their annual procurement plans in their website and that of Treasury. These plans must be prepared before each financial year begins, as part of the annual budget preparation process [2]. All public entities must adhere to these established legal and policy frameworks. According to PPRA annual report, only 117 entities published their Annual Public Procurement reports.

The Public Procurement and Concessions Act (2010), in section 40, mandates that all procuring entities—including the Ministry of National Defense—prepare and submit annual procurement plans, which specify contract descriptions, estimated costs, methods, and timelines for implementation.[1]
These procurement plans are compiled under the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and submitted to the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) [2], then incorporated into the national budget via the Ministry of Finance.[3]
The MoD’s total budget is publicly accessible through legislative discussion and online platforms, although defence-specific procurement items are not separately detailed in publicly released documents.
The MoD does not publish line-item purchase plans, and procurement specifics remain internal, even though legally mandated to produce annual procurement plans.[4][5]

The PPCA requires procuring entities to prepare annual procurement plans. This information is available in scanned copy on the PPCC website. The information is only available for the fiscal year. For instance, for the 2025 fiscal year, the information available is the Approval of the Procurement Plan for the Fiscal Year 2025 with a table of the procured goods, the budget line description and the budget amount. There is also information available on the Approval of the Annual Report for the fiscal year.
However, the information is not always released on time and it does not provide enough details on the purchases.[1][2][3][4]

Within the Department of Planning and Strategic Anticipation there is a Strategic Planning Department. This service has a “Defense Planning” Division. This Division is responsible for developing the military programming law, monitoring its implementation and drawing up regular reports. In collaboration with the technical departments concerned, it contributes to the determination of construction and equipment programs and monitors their implementation, the definition of needs in collaboration with the entities concerned, the determination and planning of human resources needs and the monitoring their satisfaction, and the development of training, administrative and technical plans and monitoring their implementation[1]. On the other hand, prospective planning regarding potential purchases is rarely done more than a year in advance [2]. A white paper was drawn up between 1992-1997 but it has no binding force [3].

Prospective purchasing plans generally only cover the coming year or even less than a year. Normally, it is when the detailed budget of each ministry, including that in charge of Defense, is published that the details of purchases are known. This is where suppliers such as the media and civil society can have information on future purchases, including average duration of supply, justification for exceptions and specific summary records by type of procurement procedure. call for tenders [1]. However, for the purchase of weapons does not depend on the annual budget allocated to each Ministry but rather on the sector’s needs, and must be approved by the President of the Republic. According to article 2 of the law °2016-005 portant organisation générale de la défense nationale, “the Executive, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, takes the necessary measures to achieve defence objectives”.

In the past, there was a military orientation and programming law that planned purchases and budgetary appropriations for the Ministry of Defence and Veterans.[1] The implementation of this planning ended in 2019 and a second phase was schedule for 2020-2024 but has not yet become operational. Also, the audit [2] of the first phase (2015-2019) is still pending because, according to sources, expenditure under the Military Orientation and Programming Law gave rise to misappropriation of public funds and huge overbilling.[3][4] Furthermore, while awaiting the launch of this second phase, it can be said that to date there is no trace of planning that goes beyond the current year.

There may be some information concerning prospective purchasing plans, but they only cover the upcoming year or less, or they are so lacking in detail that they are incomplete. In fact, planning since the end of the first phases of the orientation and programming laws has been done for the current or future year, inaccordance with the finance law and the consolidated procurement plans.[1]

Potential general acquisitions for the Defence Sector are presented in the Military Planning [1] that appears in the Government’s Five-Year Plan [2], and the Defence Budget and Social Economic Plan [3]. However, strategic products are not public and Mozambique (2024) does not have a Defence White Paper yet, as evident in the link of the Ministry of National Defence [4], where the structuring documents of the National Defence sector are found: Defence Policy, Law of National Defence and Armed Forces, Strategic Concept of National Defence and Organic Structure of the Ministry of National Defence and Armed Forces.

There is no publicly available information on forward purchase plans because they are considered strategic matters, military secrets [1] and information protected by the State Secrets Law [2], and Mozambique does not yet have a Defence White Paper. Relatedly, the Sectoral Matrix of the Economic and Social Plan of the Ministry of Defence [3] contains targets of a legal nature, civic service, and development of human resources, maintenance of military infrastructure, opening of military research centres, peacekeeping missions and humanitarian missions.

Niger has a formal acquisition planning process as outlined in the 2013 decree on defence and security procurement, which mandates the development of an annual acquisition plan based on needs identified by the technical departments of the Ministry of Defense [1]. This plan, required to be finalised by the end of January each year, serves as the primary framework for defence procurement, allowing for regular updates and adjustments throughout the budget cycle. However, it is entirely classified as “top secret” and not accessible to the public [1].The level of secrecy surrounding defence procurement increased further with the adoption of Ordinance No. 2024-05 on February 23, 2024, which exempted defense-related expenditures from public procurement laws and financial oversight [2]. This legal change further entrenches opacity by removing any potential disclosure requirements related to future defence purchases, reinforcing the absence of strategic planning documents, such as a defence white paper or long-term procurement strategy, that could inform the public about defence priorities.

There is no publicly available information on forward purchase plans for defence acquisitions in Niger. According to Article 20 of the 2013 decree on defence and security procurement, the Ministry of Defence is required to develop an annual acquisition plan based on needs identified by its technical departments [1]. However, this plan is classified as “top secret” and is not disclosed to the public in any form. Furthermore, the adoption of Ordinance No. 2024-05 on February 23, 2024, further reinforces secrecy by exempting defence-related expenditures from public procurement laws and financial oversight [2]. This legal provision eliminates any possibility of public disclosure regarding planned acquisitions, effectively ensuring that no advance notice of defense purchases is made available to the public.

Potential defence purchases in Nigeria are not typically made public. However, in some instances, government is pressured to make public some potential defence procurements as a way of increasing public confidence in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria. For instance, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in November 2020 revealed which models of armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) it will soon be receiving from China – eight Wing Loong II, CH-4 and CH-3 aircraft [1]. Similarly, the Nigerian Army Aviation recently disclosed that it will acquire modernized manned helicopters such as the Bell UH-1D utility helicopter, along with fixed-wing aircraft like the MF-212 light aircraft [2].
The Ministry of Defence only formally inaugurated a strategic planning team in 2023, as part of a wider digital strategy (FCSSIP 2021–25), pointing to planning horizons but not yet to fully articulated strategic acquisition frameworks [3].

The Nigerian government does not publish detailed plans for defence purchases in advance. The planning and budgeting process for defence procurement is generally classified, and the specifics of future acquisitions are not often made publicly available due to national security concerns. The annual nature of budget and budgetary procedures in Nigeria also affects defence budgeting and expenditure. The annual and supplementary budget usually contain sketchy details of planned defence acquisition for the fiscal years [1]. Between 2015 and 2023, Nigeria recorded an unprecedented massive procurement of military equipment [2]. In some situation, any of the services can disclose planned future acquisition. For instance, the Nigerian Air Force disclosed in November 2023 that it will acquire some twenty-four M-346 Master aircraft from Italy’s Leonardo. The deal, estimated to be worth around €1.2 billion, marks a significant step in Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to modernize its air force. The aircraft is expected to be delivered to the Nigerian Air Force in 2024 [3].

Potential purchases in the defence sector are planned over 3 years [1] . The defence sector draws up its multiannual strategic plan on the basis of defence requirements, which makes it possible to forecast the equipment purchases that will be needed to implement this strategy.Reporting to the Director General of Planning and Economic Policy, the Planning Department is responsible for coordinating the preparation of planning documents for economic and social development. It also contributes to monitoring their implementation at national, regional and sectoral levels. Its role is also to draw up forward-looking studies, medium-term macro-economic projections and ensure their updating. It is also responsible for long-term modeling, and for building the capacity of the Administration’s planning structures. One of its missions is also to design the three-year outlooks that will serve as a framework for the three-year Public Investment and Action Program, and to support the development of sectoral and territorial policies. It also carries out ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of development projects and programs. [2] As a reminder, the Army Commissariat is responsible for purchasing materials for the army.

Potential purchases in the defence sector are planned over 3 years. [1] Not all information relating to this schedule is made public, as it is sometimes classified as a defence secret. Only information deemed accessible, such as the purchase of vehicles, is made available to the public on the calls for tender website. But when it comes to armaments, the information is not available. Responsibilities and powers of the Directorate General of the Budget, in the field of budget programming and execution; Drafting of finance bills; Drafting of multi-year State public investment programs; Examination of draft budgets for universities, public health establishments, agencies and similar bodies [2] . More, the delay of the publications is very long, for instance, since 2017 for the Cour des Comptes (CDC) and 2019 for the Inspection Générale d’Etat (IGE), annual reports have no longer been made public. This has raised many questions among the general public. Since 2019, the websites of the Cour des Comptes (CDC) and the Inspection Générale d’Etat (IGE) have not published any general public reports on the management of public funds. It was not until 2023 that the CDC published a report on the management of funds to respond to Covid-19, which dates from 2020. Until 2023, the public reports (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) were not published [3] .

Forward planning is informed by the Defence Review prepared in 2015 while acquisitions are determined as part of the Strategic Capital Acquisition Master Plan which has a 30-year time horizon but is not publicly disclosed [1]. It is, however, important to note that funding constraints have adversely affected the Department of Defence’s ability to investment in acquisitions [2] and some of have called for a renewal of the Defence Review to align with contemporary funding realities.

Neither the Department of Defence nor Armscor seemingly publish comprehensive notices of forward planning for defence purchases. [1] However, there is an Armscor public corporate plan, published on official sites including some procurement priorities for capability support and acquisition services [1]. Limited information on specific projects is, however, revealed and at times discussed in the media. [2]

There is any publicly available information regarding defence purchases that were made public more so for the timelines stated here. The lack of public information may not necessarily mean that such a document does not exist, however since this section focuses on the public availability of the documents, then I have scored the country zero [1]. The score is further complemented by information of an officer in the SPLA who confirmed he did not have any information on forward planning for potential purchase. [2]

There is no publicly available information published by the government regarding forward arms purchase. There is also no publicly available information that requires the government to make such plans public. One of the documents that comes close to such a requirement is the SPLA White Paper on Defence of 2008 a document that one would consider overtaken by events given the new status of South Sudan as an independent state. Nonetheless the document tries to address some of the logistics guidelines [1] The score is further complemented by information of an officer in the SPLA who confirmed not having any information on forward planning for potential purchase [2].

The limited public availability of UPDF policies, coupled with the outdated nature of the 2004 white paper on defence transformation, creates a significant challenge to transparency and public oversight of military operations and acquisitions. While the UPDF’s consultation with the Commander-in-Chief on military acquisitions is a legally sanctioned practice, it can lead to perceptions of opacity, particularly when combined with the lack of publicly accessible policy documents. Despite this, the existence of annual plans and budgets demonstrates that the UPDF engages in planning processes. However, the assertion that forward planning for potential purchases extends 5-9 years in advance, while indicative of strategic foresight, is rarely comprehensive [1].
Several factors contribute to the limitations of long-term planning. Rapidly evolving security threats, technological advancements, and shifting geopolitical landscapes can render long-term projections obsolete. Furthermore, budgetary constraints and unforeseen economic fluctuations can necessitate adjustments to planned acquisitions. The inherent secrecy surrounding military operations and procurement can also hinder comprehensive forward planning, as information sharing may be restricted for national security reasons. While the UPDF undoubtedly engages in forward planning, the dynamic nature of defence and security, coupled with the need for confidentiality, often results in plans that are subject to frequent revisions and adjustments, preventing them from being fully comprehensive [2][3].

There are few notices of planned purchases, but details of planned purchases are not made public because they are classified [2]. In Uganda, potential defence purchases are not always made public. Nevertheless, some information is made available through various channels especially, through newspapers and online communications, such as pre-qualification adverts [1]. For example, the Independent has established that globally renowned Chinese military contractors are working with the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). The China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) and Poly Technologies Inc. supplied military equipment to the UPDF to support the offensive against the Congo-based Uganda rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).[3]

There are no policies for Defence purchases and purchases are not made public. However, the defence purchase is guided by the Defence procurement board which is established by the Defence procurement Act [1]. The defence purchases are secretive and are not shared with the public [2]. The media will only report when the purchases arrive in the country, but without a revelation on how the purchase was conducted and when was it done [3].

There are no notices or available information of planned purchases [1][2].