The mlitary is about the only carreer with emphatic, consistent and specialised training institutions with the responsibility of moulding men and women into future leaders. From the West Point, the US military academy, to Sandhurst in the UK, the goal is the same: training young men and women who would imbibe the spirit of hard work and discipline in the armed forces.
Nigeria’s military academy, the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, serves as a training hub for Nigeria’s armed forces. Established on February 5, 1964, it was formed with a vision “to produce officers with broad based training in both military and academic subjects designed to serve as foundation for the future progressive development of officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces.” The mission of the institution is “to provide each officer cadet with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to meet the requirement of a military officer through military, academic and character development.”
In its 55 years of existence, the NDA has evolved from the award of Nigerian Defence Academy Certificate of Education, NDACE, to a degree-awarding academy since 1984. As a degree awarding military academy, cadets spend five years. Army cadets spend five years (four years of academic and one year military training); naval cadets spend four years at the academy and one year at Nigerian Naval College, Onne, Port Harcourt; and airforce cadets spend four years at the academy and one year at the 301 Flying Training School (301 FTS), Kaduna.
The core objective remains the training of young officers in military, academic and character development; to instill discipline and leadership skills according to global best practices, culminating in the award of a bachelor’s degree and presidential commission.
The NDA has expanded to offering MSc and PhD programmes for both military and civilian students. In 2011, it also broke its tradition of an exclusive training ground for only male cadets by admitting female cadets.
In more than five decades, the NDA has graduated 19, 496 officers including 478 from Benin Republic, Chad, Guinea, Gambia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Its military training is in three categories – five years for Regular Combatant Officers, nine months for Short Service officers and nine months for Direct Short Service for recruitment of doctors, lawyers engineers, educationists and accountants into non combat arms of the services.
From 1964 to date, 26 senior officers have headed the NDA as commandants. The first commandant was Brigadier MR Varma, an Indian, (1964-1969); the second commandant but first Nigerian, was Major General David Ejoor (1969-1971). Others who have led the academy include: Major General Adeyinka Adebayo (1971), Major General EO Ekpo, (1971-1975), Brigadier Illiya Bisalla (February-August, 1975), Brigadier Gibson Jalo (1975-1978), Brigadier ES Armah (January-July 1978), Brigadier Joseph Garba (1978-1979), Brigadier Zamani Lekwot (1979-1982), Brigadier Abdullahi Shelleng, (1982), Major General Paul Tarfa (1984-1985), Major General Peter Ademokai (1986-1988), Lt. Gen. Salihu Ibrahim (1988-1990), Lt. Gen. Garba Duba (1990-1992) Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusau (1992-1993), Lt. Gen. Mohammed Haladu (1993-1994) Air Marshal Al-Amin Daggash (1994-1998), Major General Bashir Magashi (1998-1999), Major General Okon Okon (2002-2003), Major General Akpa (2004-2006), Major General Harris Dzarma (2006-2008), Major General Mamuda Yerima (2008-2010) Major General Emeka Onwuamaegbu (2010-2013), Major General MI Idris (2013-2015), Major General MT Ibrahim (2015-2017), Major General A Oyebade (2017-2019) and Major General Jameel Sarham.
Apart from the commandants who were largely alumni of the institution, the premier military academy has also produced service chiefs, royal fathers and other generals in all services who have distinguished themselves as commanders at home and abroad. The institution has also grown in both intake and scope.
Despite these glaring successes, there have been concerns about declining standards at the academy. –
These concerns which are known to many Nigerians was echoed by the new commandant during his maiden speech as the 27th Commandant of the academy. Major General J Sarham said: “As a product of this same illustrious academy, I would be tone deaf if I say I am not aware of some of the unsavoury things currently going on in NDA today. Things like cadets going on AWOL and re-jabbed, cadets engaging in examination malpractices, sexual misconduct, substance abuse, cadets fighting and disrespecting officers and parents interfering in disciplinary or academic issues.” The commandant who said he abhors indiscipline, warned that any indiscipline cadet has a short stay in the academy. “Let me tell you my stand on discipline: I hate indiscipline.
“I decided to have an enlarged audience comprising all NDA stakeholders – military instructors, academic faculty members, support staff, and cadets. This is so that everybody knows where everybody stands. I have specific massages for each group, groups which together have played, and will continue to play very important roles in ensuring that NDA accomplishes its mission.”
He highlighted some of the values of NDA and emphasized the need for collective responsibility towards upholding them: “NDA is one of the foundational stones of our nation, and moulding ground for future military leaders for Nigeria. “NDA’s mission is to educate, train and inspire the officer cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of duty, honour, discipline and country, and fully prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as officers in the AFN.
For the military instructors and academy faculty he emphasized the need for balancing the training which include military, academic, moral and discipline. He said: “The work of the two groups, are not by any means mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing. Both are extraordinarily useful, one to develop the brain, the other to develop the brawn while both strive towards instilling discipline and moral character on the cadets.”
For the cadets he warned against indiscipline.
“NDA is still a military academy (as opposed to a military university). There are certain things that should remain constant in any military academy no matter the age. Let me remind you what life as a cadet in a military academy is, or should be. Being a cadet at the Nigerian Defence Academy is more than simply being a university student. As a cadet, you receive world-class leadership development and education from the first day you arrive until the day you graduate. We will train you to become effective leaders in the AFN.” To the parents, the commandant advised against undue interference. “While parents can be of great help to their sons or daughters through these challenging times at NDA, parents can also be a source of distraction to our mutually beneficial task of raising disciplined officers for the armed forces. Parents need to understand that when their wards, with the parents’ approval, decide to come to NDA, they are committing themselves to a life of discipline, regimentation, hard work, honesty and integrity. That decision is more than just a pursuit of higher education”.
It is heartwarming that the new commandant, a regular combatant and infantry officer, has set the tone and agenda for rebuilding a new NDA to the part of honour, duty and country. By declaring war on indiscipline, he has left no one in doubt about his determination to go all the way in achieving his mission.
In achieving this herculean task, he need not reinvent the wheel. He also started on a good note through an all-inclusive approach by speaking to all stakeholders.
For the new commandant to succeed, he must ensure that the selection of future cadets must necessarily be from those who are ready and hungry for challenge to serve the country, not those who are privileged as has unfortunately become the trend.
We must all realize as Nigerians that more than any other institution, the future of our armed forces and the peace of our nations lies with the NDA.
