Nigerian Military School

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 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. Since the establishment of this great Military institution, it has at various times been commanded by distinguished Military Officers.