Nigerian Military School

The Nigerian Military School Zaria, founded as the Boys-Company of Nigeria in 1954, was established under the auspices of Nigerian Regiment Training centre of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). The school was established along with three others in the British Colonial West Africa in Gambia, Gold Coast (now Ghana), and Sierra-Leone. It was modeled after the Boys Wing of the British Army. The present day Military School came into being on May 20, 1954.

The Nigerian Military School has a student battalion that consisted of 4 company in its early years ; Alpha Company, Bravo Company, Charlie Company, Delta Company,

Three additional companies were added; Echo Company, Foxtrot Company, Golf Company.

The Boys Company as it used to be called was established as a full fledged training institution under the regimentation and administration of the defunct Nigerian Regimental Training Centre (NRTC) now Depot NA.

The aim of the school was the production of "middle and skilled manpower" to replace the departing British Colonial NCOs. Thus, a lot of emphasis was laid on military and academic training. In 1958, ten Boys from the School sat for the overseas Armed Forces General Certificate Examination and the school changed to school certificate status.

In 1960, the name "Boys Company" was changed to Nigerian Military School. In 1965 the first set of Boys wrote the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in which they performed creditably well. Since then, the school's performance in such examination has always been excellent.

With the introduction of the new National Policy on Education, the School now runs six-year training programme broken into junior and senior classes of three years duration respectively. A Board of Governors was established to oversee the running of the school.

To facilitate effective administration, Military and Academic training, the school is segmented into 5 main Wings: The Headquarters, Military wing, Education Wing, Boys Battalion and the Administrative Company.

The first Commandant of the School, then known as Boys Company, was Captain WU Bassey.

Education

The Nigerian Military School gives its students both academic and military training. Every boy soldier as the students are called has one day a week dedicated strictly to military training while the other four days of the week are dedicated to academic training. The students used to be optionally enrolled into the Nigerian Army as private soldiers on the successful completion of their training, in 1999 it became compulsory for graduating students to join the Nigerian Army.

The initial group of students was known as the “First Platoon” who were sons and wards of serving military personnel. However its military history can be traced to 1951 when the idea of establishing “Boys Company” along the same pattern of the Boys Wing of British Army was conceived for each of the West African Colonies Namely: the Gambia, Gold Cost (Ghana), Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

In 1960, the name “Boys Company” was changed to “Nigerian Military School” with four houses namely; Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, and Lagos House. To boost academic Excellency, Major Wakeman, a graduate, was appointed from the British Army Education Corps as Commanding Officer in 1962. The School therefore commenced five set years training programmed as a secondary school. In 1965 the first set of boys wrote the WAEC Examination in which they performed creditably well. Since then, the school’s performance in such examination has been good. It is important to note that the first set of ten ex-boys to enter the Nigerian Defence Academy in block was in 1966 while the first set to enter the University to train as medical doctors was in January 1972.

With the introduction of the New National policy on education, the school now runs a six-year training programme broken into Junior and Senior Secondary school of three years duration each. All the subjects required by this policy are being taught in the school by able and qualified Officers, Soldiers, Civilian Staff and Youth Corp members. To enhance its status, the Board of Governors was established to oversee the running of the school.

The school from its establishment to date has produced numerous Senior Military officers and Senior Staff in both Government and Private sectors. In contributions to economic and socio – political development in Nigeria can be seen by its products in all fields of our lives. Its alumni include Generals Tunde Idiagbon, Joseph Garba, John Shagaya, Jeremiah Useni, John Inienger, Salihu Ibrahim, Buba Marwa, Yakubu Mu'azu, Alexander Ogomudia, Abdulkareem Adisa, and Garba Ali Muhammed.

Houses

To encourage sporting activities and competition as attendance increased, four houses were created: Exham, Inglis, FairBanks and Swynnerton. These names were later changed to Giffard, Tranchard, Whistler and Lugard.

As the School changed to School certificate status shortly after independence, the house names were also changed to Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna. The new names were chosen to reflect the regional capitals of the country.

In 1976, two additional houses were added and the names were again changed. The new house names reflected military company designations: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot.

One additional has been added: Gulf, the 7th company. In late 2003, the School changed to the old names of Kaduna, Lagos, Ibadan and Enugu, with Abuja, Calabar and Zaria given to the additional new companies of Echo, Foxtrot and Gulf.

Commandants

Since the establishment of the Military Institution, it has at various times been commanded by numerous Officers. They are as follows:

Commandant	Took Office	Left Office
Capt. WU Bassy	20 May 1954	31 Dec 1956
Maj CJ Grindley	01 Jan 1956	31 Dec 1959
Maj RK Gardiner	01 Jan 1960	31 July 1961
Maj JM McCarter	01 Aug 1961	28 Feb 1962
Maj PJ Wakeman	01 Mar 1962	09 Nov 1964
Lt Col TB Ogundeko	10 Nov 1964	09 Nov 1972
Lt Col TO Oduniyi	10 Nov 1972	02 Aug 1977
Col-BrigGen CB Ndiomu	03 Nov 1977	02 Aug 1982
Col O Daramola FSS AMNIN	03 Aug 1982	23 Sep 1985
Col. A Fakulujo FSS psc	24 Sep 1985	13 Oct 1990
Col-BrigGen FA Ogunribido FSS MSS	14 Oct 1990	31 July 1993
Col EBA Okodaso FSS MSS psc	01 Aug 1993	30 Jan 1995
Brig Gen HB Momoh FSS MSS psc mni	26 Jan 1995	30 Jan 1997
Brig Gen SA Sofoluwe FSS MSSS psc	31 Jan 1997	31 Mar 1999
Brig Gen SK Oni FSS MSS Ph.D	01 Apr 1999	25 Apr 2000
Col D Bitrus MSS psc	26 Apr 2000	13 Aug 2003
Col IG Bauka MSS psc LLB BL	13 Aug 2003	05 Sep 2005
Col CO Esekhaigbe MSS psc B.Sc(Hons) MILD PGD MIMC	05 Sep 2005	30 Aug 2006
Col GJ Udi Fss Mss psc	30 Aug 2006	1 Sept 2007
Brig Gen FS Amuche MSS psc MSc	01 Sep 2007	04 Sept 2009
Col LF Abdullahi Fss Mss Psc Phd	04 Sept 2009	09 Oct 2013
Brig Gen JA Fayehun Fss Mss PGDE	09 Oct 2013	Till Date External links Official Website of Ex Boys of Nigerian Military School, Zaria in the UK Official website of the Nigerian Military School