The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has opposed a bill seeking to grant automatic admission to graduates of military secondary schools into the academy, warning the proposal could breach federal character principles and discriminate against other qualified Nigerians.
The NDA’s position was presented by its Director of Military Training, Brig.-Gen. Taiye Ahmed, at a public hearing organised yesterday by the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, chaired by Babajimi Benson.
The hearing considered four defence-related bills, including HB.1709, which proposes amending Section 8(2) of the Second Schedule to the NDA Act to provide that “the board shall offer automatic admission for successful graduates from Nigerian military schools.”
Proponents argued that the provision would prevent military school graduates from becoming tools of non-state violent actors.
Ahmed said the academy rejected the amendment as currently phrased, warning it could create “statutory bottlenecks” on the constitutional principle of federal character, which governs NDA admissions to ensure equal representation across the 36 states and the FCT.
“The proposed amendment could face legal challenges for being discriminatory against applicants who did not attend military school, as it could be perceived as disenfranchising them from admission into the NDA,” he said.
Ahmed said military school graduates already compete on equal terms with other Nigerians under the existing admissions framework, which he described as merit-based and highly competitive, with minimum JAMB score requirements alongside strict physical, psychological and medical standards.
“Available records show that civilian candidates could be better than some military school graduates based on the earlier-mentioned criteria,” he said.
He added that military school graduates already had multiple alternative pathways into the armed forces, including immediate enlistment as soldiers, short service commission, direct short service commission and executive commission routes.
“The NDA is of the opinion that the current admission process should be maintained,” Ahmed concluded.
The committee also heard bills seeking to establish a Joint Doctrine and Warfare Centre, an Armed Forces Medical College in Abuja and the National Defence College of Nigeria as a postgraduate degree-awarding institution.
Benson commended participants at the close of proceedings, describing the session as “the people’s parliament.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
