Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to President, Mohammadu Buhari has said the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) embodies the country’s unceasing quest for nationhood and the protection of its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Delivering a paper, titled, “National Security, Defence, and Diplomacy In A Changing World Order”, at the 20th Convocation Post Graduate Students of NDA On Tuesday, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari noted that for those who have followed the evolution of the country since its independence in 1960, it would not be lost that the Nigerian Defence Academy has stood for the purpose it was established.
Gambari said, “In the period since the founding of the Academy in February 1964, its role and place in the making of our nation and the strengthening of our statehood have never been in doubt.”
He explained that the various senior officers who have served as its NDA’s Commandants at different points have laboured over the years to cultivate, nurture, and uphold the high ideals of excellence for which the Academy has come to be known and respected, not only in Nigeria but across Africa and the world.
He said the history and culture of excellence on which the NDA is built, was further bolstered by the decision of the federal government to grant the Academy a degree-awarding status, adding that much recently, authorised the admission of female cadets.
He said that way, the young men and women who undergo academic and military training are commissioned into any of the three services that comprise the Nigerian Armed Forces, fully equipped with the requisite knowledge, aptitudes, and skills required of a modern officer corps.