Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, tapped by President Bola Tinubu as the next chief of defence staff, was addressing the National Assembly in the capital Abuja as part of the Senate's screening process before his expected swearing-in Thursday.
"We all know that resources are not enough," Oluyede told the Senate, saying that "makes it very difficult... to prosecute the war against terrorism, banditry".
Amid media reports of a recent coup plot, Tinubu reshuffled his top military brass last week.
The Tinubu administration and the military have officially denied reports that at least 16 officers were arrested over an alleged coup plot, saying they had been arrested over disciplinary issues -- though military and government sources have indicated otherwise to AFP.
Nigeria has been battling jihadists in its northeast since Boko Haram's uprising in 2009, in a conflict that has spilt across borders and created deadly splinter groups, including the rival Islamic State West Africa Province.
Though violence has receded since its peak a decade ago, attacks continue, mostly in the countryside, where the military is overstretched and state institutions, including the police, have long been weak or absent.
- 'Restructure the police' -
Security forces are also struggling against "bandits" -- heavily armed cattle-rustling and kidnapping gangs that have spread across rural swathes of northwest and central Nigeria.
The southeast meanwhile faces smaller-scale violence linked to separatist groups.
Oluyede said Nigeria, home to Africa's fourth-largest economy, should produce more arms and equipment locally to save costs.
In August, the United States approved a $346 million sale of bombs, rockets and munitions to Nigeria. China, Turkey, Brazil, Pakistan and the Netherlands are also major arms suppliers to Africa's most populous country.
But at a continent-wide defence summit earlier this year, Nigerian firms were keen to show their wares, from armoured vehicles to drones.
Oluyede also called on the country to "restructure the police force".
"Most of the job that is being done by the army, as we speak, actually lies within the purview of the police," said Oluyede.
"It is important for the nation to empower the police: make it stronger, make it more formidable, so that they can do their job, while we concentrate on defending Nigeria against external aggression."
Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, tapped as chief of air staff, meanwhile faced questions about the increasing use of drones by armed groups, which has been documented in Nigeria and across the Sahel
"The enemy you're fighting went to school," Aneke said, adding that insurgents should not be regarded as "rag-tag" fighters.
Tinubu's reshuffle of his top generals replaced chief of defence staff Christopher Musa with Oluyede, who had been chief of army staff.
Major General Waidi Shaibu is slated to be sworn in as chief of army staff. Rear Admiral Idi Abbas is tapped for chief of naval staff.
The chief of defence intelligence, Major General Emmanuel Akomaye Parker Undiandeye, retained his position.
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