I know you must be wondering about the History of Nigerian Army, what do you know about the Nigerian Army Force? There are lots of things about them which we believe everyone is supposed to know, the Nigerian army has lots of history and important dates which will be beneficial to you. It goes far back as the 1900, which are some important dates about the Nigerian Civil war and a list of others. This article will give you credible information which you will need to know about the Nigerian army, important dates, and names which will be of help to you.

History Of Nigerian Army Force

The founding of the Nigerian army started with a local force with a group of Northerners which was formed and selected, they were 18 in number and they were all indigenes of the Northern region, this dates back to 1863 when Lt Glover of the Royal Navy made this possible, he was able to able the local force which now resulted in a big army till date. This small force was used for many means, it was used by Glover which was the Governor of Lagos to mount a punitive expedition in the Lagos hinterland and also to protect the British trade routes. In the year 1865, things changed for the local force as they were now called the Glover Hausa which became a name with the regular Hausa Constabulary, this force was able to perform both police and military duties for the Lagos government which made everything to be organized in a better form, the local force or the Glover Force as it was called was later incorporated into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) and this took place in the year 1901. If you were to read through the history books you will find this information there, but not all, many don’t have the information the information that the Nigerian army dates far back and that they were started out with 18 men and they were first called the local force, many only knew about from the West African Frontier force which they were called, that is why this article will be detailed as possible, we will try as possible not to miss out any information that will be useful to you.

History Of Nigerian Army Force

In addition to this force which is the West African Frontier Force it later became the Lagos Battalion which they included the Royal Niger Company and this was done by the British force, it was the Constabulary Northern force in 1866 and the Oil Rivers irregular in 1891. The Establishment of the West African frontier force was what led to all the units which were created with different names to be merged together and this was done by Lord Fredrick Lugard and this is what has helped shaped the Nigerian army till date  The merger which took place, produced the Northern, Southern Nigerian regiment, there were commanders of each Regiment, they were placed there to help take care of the soldiers, the first commander of the Southern regiment was Lt CHP Carter (1899-1901) and Col J Wilcox (1900-1909), you should know that the two regiments were later used for expeditions by Lord Lugard, this was between the year 1901-1903.

All these were done before Nigerian gained independence, over time, a force of 18,000 battalions rose up to 126,000 battalions in three divisions and this was by the end of the Nigerian Civil war in the year 1970, even with after the war, the Nigerian army were not that affected, though there were times when there were limited weapons, don’t worry we will get to those ones later. They were key personalities which made the Nigerian Civil war successfully and they also helped in shaping and organizing the army which made it possible for them to win and defeat any enemy which comes as a threat to them, the like of Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo which played an important role in the re-organizing of the 3rd division which made them to be able to have a stance against their enemy, he was able to improve the logistics and their administration which made them win the war with ease. His effort in the Nigerian civil war will not go unnoticed, as there were times when arms embargoes were placed by some West African countries which caused a slow down with some equipment and weapons, but they were able to bypass all that with his help and he made things easier for them. After the Civil war, the Nigerian army was organized and re-structured into four divisions, each of the controlling territories was running from North to South, each of the division which was formed has access to the sea which made it easy for logistics and tri-service operation possible. The first division was located in Kaduna which was the Head Quarters and it was the North West Sector, the second division which the Head Quarters in Ibadan and it was the South West Division with others filling in, the third division with the Head Quarters at Jos which was the North East Sector and the fourth division with Head Quarters at Enugu in the South East sector. You should know that the first and second division has the 32 artillery brigades while the 2nd division also has 4 extra brigades at Benin City with 19 battalions at Okitipupa and 195 at Agenebode, in the North East they have the 21 armored brigade which is in Maiduguri and they have the 23 brigade which is in Yola and the 33 artillery brigade. The 81st division Head Quarters in Lagos includes the 9 brigades and this is located at Ikeja, the 82nd Head Quarters Division in Enugu includes the 2 brigades at Port Harcourt and the 13 brigades at Calabar and they also have the 34 artillery brigade at Owerri.

The Nigerian army is organized and structured into combat arms, combat support arms and the combat support services. Each of these is fully taught and well organized and under them, they have the infantry and artillery, medical services, ordinance, and others. The Nigerian army has the 6th division, I believe you must have read something like that above, the 6th division was created to improve the security challenges in the Niger Delta region, this division was created in helping to reduce crisis, bunker, trafficking, sabotage from criminal entities and a whole lot of others crime, we all know the security challenges that is going on in the Niger Delta region especially in the case of militants, that is why this 6th division was created in order to help curb all these social vices. The 7th division was also created and was established in the year 2013, due to the recent killings of Boko Haram which has been one of the problems in Nigeria, the 7th division Head Quarters is located in Maiduguri and it has a combat motorcycle unit which is part of its task force, the unit was created for protecting the roads in Yobe and to serve as a force during operations. The Nigerian Army has also joined with other military forces abroad in helping them fight for their country, there have been series of events which have been happening which has made the Nigerian government made their military men available in fighting for one cause. They have been able to build up international relations through that process; Nigeria has claimed to have contributed more than 20,000 troops and police officers since the 1960 to various United Nations missions.

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In Conclusion, we have talked about the Nigeria military troops, the history of the Nigerian army and we have given you important dates, names, and information that could be of good help to you.

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