You might have heard about the Nigerian Defence Academy, but not particularly informed about its real mission. Do you know that the Nigerian Armed Forces has its own University? That’s right. And that is the NDA. Originally known as the Royal Military Forces Training College (RMFTC) before Nigerian independence, the Nigerian Defence Academy was set up and established in Kaduna in 1964, to train military cadets thoroughly in order to fit into one of the Nigerian Armed Forces – be it the Army, Navy or Airforce. We will present here in this article, some more details about this prestigious military training school that may be useful to you, if you aspire to join the Nigerian Armed forces.
The Nigerian Defence Academy: An Overview
To graduate from the NDA, a cadet must undergo a 5-year training course – which includes four years of academic work, and one year of military training to instill necessary academic knowledge, leadership skills and discipline in the military cadets. You might be surprised to know that the Nigerian Defence Academy also offers Masters and Ph.D. post-graduate programmes to both military officers and civilians.
So any graduate of the NDA would obtain a recognised university Bachelor’s degree – in addition to being given the rank of second lieutenant in the Nigerian Army, Midshipman in the Nigerian Navy, or Pilot officer in the Nigerian Airforce. Furthermore, contrary to the previous years when an all-male student admission was ongoing for quite a long time, the Nigerian Defence Academy now admits female cadets – which began in the year 2011. The NDA at present offers a total of 23 academic programmes culminating in Bachelor’s degree, and they are underlisted below:
- ACCOUNTING
- BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE(S)
- BIOTECHNOLOGY
- CHEMISTRY
- CIVIL ENGINEERING
- COMPUTER SCIENCE
- CYBER SECURITY
- DEFENCE AND SECURITY STUDIES
- ECONOMICS
- ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
- FRENCH
- GEOGRAPHY
- HISTORY
- INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY STUDIES
- MANAGEMENT
- MATHEMATICS
- MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
- MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING
- MILITARY SCIENCE
- PHYSICS
- POLITICAL SCIENCE AND DEFENCE STUDIES
- PSYCHOLOGY
- TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
General Requirements for Admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy
- Applicants must be at least 17 years old, and at most 21 years old in the year of admission. In the case of the Nigerian Navy, candidates must be between 17 and 18 years of age in that year of admission.
- Each applicant must possess 5 credit passes in not more than 2 sittings (Including Mathematics and English Language) of SSCE, GCE, NECO OR NABTEB certificate examinations. The O’level results above must not be older than 5 years from the date of the NDA UTME entrance examination.
Take note that each academic course in the NDA also has its own subject requirements, besides the one mentioned above.
- Applicants must also undergo the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) nationwide qualifying examinations, and pass the required cut-off mark for his/her target course in order to be admitted into the NDA. Additionally the NDA must be selected as the first school of choice in JAMB and UTME examinations.
- NDA conducts its own University Matriculation Examination (UTME) after the candidate passes the JAMB cut-off score. Registration for the NDA UTME is done online, and successful candidates must score at least 180 marks, and thereafter will be scheduled for an interview.
- The minimum height requirement is 1.68 meters for males, and 1.66 meters for females.
- Applicants must be single and not mandated by law to support any child or any other such individual.
- Applicants must be mentally and physically fit, with good moral character.
- Applicants must have a Certificate of State of Origin (obtained from his/her local government area, or the State Governor’s office).
- Scanned copies of the applicant’s birth certificate, and the certificate of State of Origin, must be prepared ready for upload unto the NDA registration portal.
Nigerian Defence Academy: Online Registration Procedure
It is regular practice that the Nigerian Defence Academy makes its entrance examination form available to interested persons long before the JAMB form goes on sale to the general public; and before other higher institutions put up their post-UTME forms for sale. It will be made available all the way till the end of sales of JAMB forms, so there is enough time to decide whether you wish to join the NDA and buy the form. However, you should decide early enough.
The registration portal for the Nigerian Defense Academy entrance examination is:
https://www.ndaapplications.net
- Log in to the website above. Then click ‘Purchase access Code’. Once you have filled the entrance examination form, proceed (in the same same form) to click the payment button. An Order ID, and a Remita Retrieval Reference Code (RRR) will be generated for you. You will use the RRR code to pay a sum of N3,000 to the participating banks (this amount is subject to possible changes in the future). Payment using RRR codes generated on the NDA registration portal is the only accepted mode of payment for now.
- You will be required to print out an exam schedule slip with which you will be admitted to the exam venue.
- Candidates who score above the stipulated 180 cut-off mark in the NDA entrance examination will be shortlisted for oral interview and physical checking of credentials, before the final list of cadets will be published.
