MEANING OF THE SYMBOLS ON THE NIGERIAN ARMY'S FLAG
From a force of 18,000 in infantry battalions and supporting units at the end of World War II in 1945, the strength of the Nigerian Army rose to around 126,000 in three divisions by the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970.
In terms of doctrine, the task of the Nigerian Army has not changed; it is to close with and defeat an organised enemy.
The Army uses a flag that has three vertical stripes (red, black, and red). On it is the emblem of an Eagle, a six-pointed star, and the Arabic text.
HistoryVille takes a look at the symbols and their meanings. The flag is flown at the Nigerian Army Headquarters, Abuja.
THE EAGLE
It represents the graceful power of the Nigerian Army. Just like an eagle, the Nigerian Army maintains keen surveillance of the country during times of peace and in preparedness for an impending war.
THE STARS
The two interlaced triangle-like six-pointed stars are the first symbol of Nigerian unity and were first struck by Lord Lugard in 1914, to show how the Northern and Southern Protectorates were brought together to form an indivisible nation.
Therefore, the Nigerian Army must maintain the nation's unity at all times (that was why Aguiyi-Ironsi promulgated his Unification Decree No. 34 on May 24, 1966).
THE ARABIC TEXT
The Arabic text on the Nigerian Army logo is, "NASRUNMINALLAH" which means "VICTORY COMES FROM GOD ALONE." The motto was formerly that of the great jihadist, Uthman Dan Fodio, Head of the Sokoto Caliphate which was inscribed by the British under Lord Lugard.
THE RED COLOUR
This colour portrays the enemy forces, their installations, and their activities.
MAJOR KADUNA NZEOGWU'S BROADCAST AFTER THE MILITARY COUP D’ÉTAT OF JANUARY 15, 1966
After murdering Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Northern Region, in a bloody coup in the early hours of January 15, 1966, Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu then proceeded to kill...
...Colonel Ralph Shodeinde, his superior officer at the Nigerian Military Training College.
He had led a group of soldiers on a supposedly military exercise to attack the official residence of the Premier of the North in Kaduna.
The Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a Federal Minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Premier of the Western Region, Chief Samuel L. Akintola, and top Army officers from the Northern and Western and Mid-Western regions of the nation were also brutally murdered.
"In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline, and foresight. Naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity...
"...fond of music and loving weapons as an oriental loves jewelry.
"His thoughts are concentrated on the events and feelings of the moment, and he suffers little from the apprehension for the future or grief for the past.
"His mind is far nearer to the animal world than that of the European or Asiatic and exhibits something of the animals' placidity and want of desire to rise beyond the state he has reached.
His regime was a period remembered for a strict campaign against indiscipline and corruption and also for his human rights abuses.
During his rule, about 500 politicians, officials, and businessmen were jailed, as part of the campaign against waste and corruption.
Also, as part of his “War Against Indiscipline”, he ordered Nigerians to form neat queues at bus-stops under the sharp eyes of whip-wielding soldiers. Even civil servants who were late to work were publicly humiliated by being forced to do frog jumps.
Dr. Salamat Ahuoiza Aliu (b. 1980) is the first indigenously trained female neurosurgeon in Nigeria and also the first female to be certified as a neurosurgeon in West Africa.
Born in Ilorin, Kwara State, where she had most of her education up to the university level, Aliu found the area of neurosurgery interesting and intriguing and then decided to specialise in the discipline.
Neurosurgeons are not just brain surgeons, they are medically trained neurosurgical specialists who can also help patients suffering from back and neck pain as well as a host of other illnesses ranging from trigeminal neuralgia to head injury and Parkinson’s disease.
The Ekiti State indigene, born in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR), who graduated from the University of Lagos, Akoka, as the Best Graduating Ph.D. holder in 2013, has two first (First Class) degrees and Master's degrees, in Mathematics and Physics which were run...
...simultaneously, at the University of Bangui, Central African Republic.
Oluwadara won the University of Bangui’s All-Time Best Student Award from the Department of Mathematics (B.Sc), Best B.Sc Student Award in Physics, 2007, and...
Late one blustery night, an elderly couple dashed out of the rain and into the lobby of a small Philadelphia hotel, hoping to secure a room for the night. But much to their disappointment, the hotel was full.