The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has appealed for special intervention from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for expansion of hostels, Officer’s Mess, as well as Postgraduate Auditorium to accommodate more Cadets and students.
The Commandant of NDA, General Abdulkalifa Ibrahim made the request when he led a delegation from the institution on a courtesy visit to TETFund Headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking during the visit, Major General Ibrahim stated that the Nigerian Defence Academy was established in 1964 with the aim of instilling in officer cadet knowledge, skills and value essential for effective military service and leadership, which it has done creditably well, not only for Nigeria, but for other African countries. He added that the academy is a hybrid institution that offers training in military programme as well as degree and post graduate programmes.
The Commandant expressed NDA’s commitment to building strong and strategic partnership with TETFund, as the Fund has been pivotal in making significant contributions to driving national development and sustaining public tertiary education in Nigeria.
“The Fund remains the cornerstone for infrastructural development, research funding, academic staff training and capacity building. Without the Fund’s intervention, NDA would be in shamble.
We in NDA recognize and value TETFund’s interventions, as they have elevated the Nigerian Defence Academy environment to global standards, attracting cadets from sister African countries,” he said.
Major General Abdulkalifa explained that his appeal for special intervention to build larger mess and hostel facilities for cadets comes on the heels of increasing number of cadets admitted yearly, which has rendered the existing hostels insufficient. He added that academy had just concluded its entrance examination, admitting 70 cadets from each state, which would further exacerbate the accommodation pressure.
He commended the Executive Secretary of TETFund and the entire management of the Fund for their efforts and interventions in NDA and extended an invitation to the TET Fund Boss to the upcoming commissioning of their senate building, which was nearing completion.
In his remark, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono thanked the NDA Commandant for the visit and assured him that the Fund would prioritize the academy’s accommodation issues in the next intervention year while promising to consider other requests made.
Echono noted that “the Fund will be glad to support NDA in the area of research, having seen the kind of innovation and effort they put in training officers at the Nigerian defense Academy during our last visit’’.
He advised the institution to encourage students to take up research that addresses the problem of insecurity and military intelligence as the Fund would be willing to sponsor such research, adding that the Fund had included Military Intelligence as the 14th thematic research area.
