Speaking at an event marking the diamond jubilee of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna, yesterday, the president assured the military of his administration’s commitment to its welfare, as well as unflagging support in the discharge of its duties.
The NDA was established about six decades ago, on February 5, 1964. The institution has undergone various stages of transformation in its quest to fulfill its mandate of training officers for the Nigerian Armed Forces. Before obtaining independence from Britain, Nigeria’s first set of officers were trained in Ghana and subsequently at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, England. But by January 1964, four years after independence, the first batch of 64 army and navy cadets commenced training at the NDA.
Tinubu highlighted some of the milestones recorded during the transformation of the NDA to include the subsequent addition and training of Air Force cadets, the successful reunification of the country after the Civil War in 1967 as well as the various short-service military training programmes instituted to fill the manpower needs caused by the Civil War.
Other noteworthy achievements he spoke of include the upgrade of the NDA from a non-degree awarding institution to a full-fledged degree-awarding university in 1985, thereby phasing out the Nigerian Defence Academy Certificate of Education hitherto awarded to cadets.
