It was 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 (NMS) had a student battalion that consisted of 4 company in its early years:
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 first Commandant of the School, was Captain Wellington Duke Bassey.
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.[1]
NMS
In 1960, the name "Boys Company" was changed to Nigerian Military School.[2] In 1965 the first set of Boys took the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination in which they performed creditably well.[1][3] 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.
Structure
The school is segmented into 5 main Wings:
Headquarters
Military Wing
Education Wing
Boys Battalion
Administrative Company.
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. Similar to other secondary schools, the students sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Exam prior to graduation. The students also have the privilege to earn a commission into the Nigerian Army as private soldiers on the successful completion of their training and graduation from the secondary school.[4]
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 coast(Ghana), Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The Nigerian military school prides itself due to its numerous successes in regional and national quizzes, drama and sporting competition. It is also said to have one of the highest educational and academic standards in the country, more than most conventional civil high schools in Nigeria.
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(March 2019)
NMS has produced numerous Senior Military officers and Senior Staff in both Government and Private sectors. till date it has produced a military vice president, four chiefs of defence staff and a president of the united nations general assembly. Some of its alumni include
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.[3]
Commandants
Since its inception, the Military Institution 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 MSS psc mni
31 Jan 1997
31 Mar 1999
Brig Gen SK Oni FSS MSS PhD
01 Apr 1999
26 Apr 2000
Col D Bitrus MSS psc
27 Apr 2000
12 Aug 2003
Col IG Bauka SS psc LLB BL
13 Aug 2003
05 Sep 2005
Col CO Esekhaigbe MSS psc B.Sc(Hons) MILD PGD MIMC