Major General Alexander Mshelbwala (Rtd), a former Guards Brigade Commander and a former Military Secretary (Army),
Deputy Commandant,
Academy Provost,
Directors,
Deans of Faculties,
Heads of Departments,
Head of Centres Other Principal Staff of NDA Headquarters
Our invited guests from sister universities and colleges of learning, Distinguished invited parents, guardians, and well wishers,
Matriculating Cadets,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Today’s event marks another important occasion where we have cause to invite members of the public and in particular parents, guardians and well wishers of these young cadets, members of the 67 Regular Course. Let me begin this singular address by congratulating all of you for making it this far. I am aware a lot of you had already fallen by the way side either on training or medical grounds. So, to have made it this far, to this very important day of your matriculation is indeed a noble achievement. Therefore, I say to you congratulation and these is the beginning of good things to come. Let me, however, while congratulating you, admonish you that the NDA is undergoing tremendous changes for the better. These changes cover the entire architecture of why you are here. These include the Military aspects and the academic component. On the Military side, the challenges are geared towards developing your character and improving your courage and the delivery of the expectations of the country on you when eventually you exit this institution in four or five years to come.

These changes must be imbibed by you and you must overcome the challenges inherent therein. The bar will in no way be lowered for you. If anything, this 67 Regular Course will be vested with more challenges because to me you represent the bench mark that the performance of the new Academy will be judged.

We have had a lot of policy summersaults and policy rigmarole over the years with attendant damaging consequences on the way NDA products have turned out. Of note was the 66 Regular Course that was left alone in uncharttered territory at the old site until events started unfolding and there was a quick reversal and they were retrieved just at the nick of time back to this site. But for you, the 67 Regular, you started on a very good note. For the past four months and two weeks you have been engaged in purely Military training, ranging from endurance, weapons training, obstacle, cross country and the likes. This is indeed, how it should be and the objective is that by the time you are at this point, you should be at par with the soldiers at the Depot NA. Having accomplished that, we have now moved you into the academic branch where you will continue to pursue your individual career as undergraduate cadets. I will not want any complaint or indolence and you must desist from brutalizing yourselves. That does not mean that you will not be toughened.

The battle field of the future and indeed that of the past is only for men who will survive and deliver protection to their partner. It does not come cheap when you want to weigh, take a look at the high table. The Major General there (General AA Mshelbwala rtd), I was once his disciple and am still so. At the point when we want to breakdown, he comes up with a charge and says ‘target’ that was the battle cry and we moved forward and achieved goals. I owe a debt of gratitude to this Gentleman for making me part of his disciples. Most of the ideas I am carrying today are expressions of my tutelage under him. I therefore feel greatly honoured that he agreed to grace this occasion.

 You will observe that we have deliberately improved on the welfare of many of you, the entire cadets. Your feeding has changed, your feeding utensils have changed, and we are addressing the welfare of the Battalion lines. Where you sleep has been renovated, those that are still dilapidated, we are attacking head on. In reciprocity, you must give me what I ask you to give me and that is commitment, discipline, hard work, courage and academic excellence. These are the only qualities that will see you through in this environment where every minute counts.

Above all, you should be a judicious time managers. Utilize your time very well for there will be no extra time given to you because you are first termers. You must in between all the challenges find sufficient time to master your academics as well as the Military Challenges. I shall not back-down by my demand that I will want to see not less than 10 distinctions and by that I mean 10 First Class from the 67 RC. It is an achievable feat because those that achieved it do not have two heads on their shoulders, they only have one.

Therefore I challenge you to dedicate yourself. Look left and right of you and see your friend and work together as course mates, making sure that none of you drops, because to get ahead you require not only individual effort but collective effort. Therefore, henceforth, I will hold you all responsible for misdemeanour of any one of you. Therefore, it is all for one and one for all. The espirit-de-corps must start here. You must think big beyond your state and where you come from, beyond your little hamlet, you must think beyond your tribe or your ethnic group and your religion. Do not fall into the trap of the larger society where every event, every action is given religious connotation. You as gentlemen cadets, you are a selected few nationalist.

You must of course bear in mind that this is the only country you have. You must serve her with loyalty and diligence. No price is too heavy, no task is too small. You must be ready to make this sacrifice right from the Nigerian Defence Academy and if need be, you are commissioned and you are called to duty, you must be ready to lay your life graciously so that your country shall live.

Let me talk to the parents, I appreciate your coming. That means you are encouraging your lads. You must be mindful from this moment that they are no longer kids, they have embarked on real adulthood and therefore pampering must stop. He is my boy; he is my boy, no. Now he is our boy. You must desist and encourage them to achieve their goals. You will hear from certain quarters that NDA is one hefty battle towards serving the nation. The conditions here are no different from any other place. To acquire diamonds you must move heavy stones, heavy heat and withstand heavy pressure. You do not get diamonds from shallow earth; the geologists will tell you that. This is what we are to put into the cadet and at the end of the day, you will be proud that your little boy has become a heavy man. By the time he comes back to you at home, you will realize that something significant has happened. This is what the NDA is known for and stands for.

I must address the recent social media video and people parading the NDA as if it is a monstrous environment where we beat up civilians or train people who beat up civilians. I want you to make it known to the general public that the NDA is a disciplined institution and we have sufficient mechanism to call to order any of our trainees or indeed any member of staff who has run foul of the law. Let it be known that the individuals concerned have been identified and appropriate disciplinary action have already been taken against them. The public must take note that the said event took place in 2014 and knowing the human rights provisions or legal provisions, any offence that runs without complaint beyond six months has reached its status bar. It will therefore be unfair for the NDA to withdraw these cadets after they have continued training and gotten better and more dependable since then. Secondly, the people that were involved were just first termers then, only three months into their training.

The society must blame itself because we just drew them from the larger society. We only brought them in from you people, members of the public. It is a reflection of the larger society which we are trying to curb and make them more responsible members of the society and also members of the Armed Forces. I would love to see people who are leading the Armed Forces with diligence and with African perseverance. The Nigerian Defence Academy is an institution that is willing to safeguard its reputation. It is a national endowment, national monument. It has every manner of members. If you seek to destroy the NDA, you destroy a national treasure.

Having said that, I wish to thank parents here with us, the members of the press for painstakingly taking their time to honour our invitation, the Academy Provost, other principal staff of the Academic Branch, the Deputy Commandant and other senior and junior staff of the Nigerian Defence Academy. Your sacrifices are all appreciated. We are determined to improve the welfare of everyone serving in NDA so that we may all protect and secure our mandate of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

I wish you all a very nice day and to the cadets a very successful journey through the Nigerian Defence Academy, as you aspires to become officers in the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force.

Congratulations.


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