12 Reasons why Nigerian Defence Academy is different from your regular university.

 

Why Nigerian defence academy is different from your regular university, using the Regular combatant process as a case study.

1.Admission chance: 

Its more easy to get admitted in a normal university in Nigeria than to get admission in the NDA, the process  is tough, there are lot of screening process to trim down the large number of applicants until the final list, furthermore according to normal standards your jamb scores boost your chance of getting admitted in a normal university after the Post UTME, but in the NDA, the Jamb scores only give you a chance to write the entrance exam/test as long as you meet the cut off  mark , you are qualified to write the Entrance Exam (EE) after which your jamb score are not much relevant in the admission process. 

2.Year one: 

In the regular university, your year one as a freshman or fresher, you may look crude or rather innocent, then your matriculation , you celebrate it in style with pictures , exotic make up, even a small party, trust me, you will be in good mood. 

The difference is much in your first year in the Nigeria defence academy, your year as a termer one cadet, a clown! A labour force! You will nearly give up, especially through the first 3 or 6 months of  prep wing where your body system is just getting acquainted with military lifestyle, you will probably loose weight  due to the daily gruesome back to back endurance run, your skin color will change as your bath has to be taken in a rush, you will be sleep deprived so much that any little free time is spent spending a sharp sleep called cutting 5, Many year one cadets sleep most times during their matriculation ceremony, and when the family comes visiting you only have few time to spend with them that day before reporting back, your life is so regimented.

3.Bureaucracy/seniority: in a regular university, 100 level students may not really respect 200 level students so much, we have even heard stories of 200 level students dragging a girlfriend with a 300 level student, the seniority system is low and thin and people don’t really care much.

But in NDA, junior cadets not only respect senior cadets, they fear them and in some cases, even avoid them! Honestly life in the academy is hostile, especially for junior cadets. From your day one as a clown, you will suffer untold hardship and drilling, puttee from senior cadets, even illegal puttee from some malicious cadets that you can barely report to officers. You don’t disobey senior cadet’s order, you don’t dare argue with one or else what will happen to you can’t be written in English language.

4.Process: in a normal university, the higher you advance in class, the more your experience, and the more you can likely pull some stunts against the system, same thing in the NDA with a little difference, the more you advance in bars (class) the more your experience. The lesser your s

uffering. And for the adventurous cadets the more they pull stunts, in fact most cadets get into trouble in their third termer. 

However no matter how high your bars are in the academy, no one is above serving puttee, if you are a clown there are job marshals, Prep w

ingers for you, if you are Job marshal, there are mandelas, godfathers  white men, and for every cadets there are officers, soldiers even civilians to treat your fuck up ( bad behavior or non compliance)

5.Holidays: the holiday in regular university is more than that of NDA, and Cadets love Holidays! It’s a treasure that many may not afford as some can be place on restriction (forbidden from having a holiday). Who dare restrict you from having your holiday in a regular university?

6. Chances: You are more likely to graduate from a regular university than from NDA, many will abscond training and academics as it get tougher, many will be dismissed, rusticated, relegated, discharged based on medical grounds and even death. In fact during your stay in the regular university you will loose less numbers of course mates and even after graduation, but if you are a cadets you will loose many course mates in the ugly hand of death especially after graduation from NDA.

7.Academics vs. Fitness: in normal university, emphasis is placed more likely on academics, while fitness is optional but in the NDA, even if you are on a first class, you’ve got to balance it with equivalent fitness or else you are not going to the next quarters or termer. 

A normal University, except you are an athlete, dancer or in the arts, sport department or you just love sports that you can focus on fitness, however the standard in NDA is much higher to the extent of driving you to your breaking point. In short your normal university is Athens, NDA is Sparta.

8.Camaraderie: 

University life the friendship bond may exist but it cannot be as strong as it is in NDA, as a clown go through hard times with his course mates they form a special bond that transcend beyond the four walls of the academy and also in service, however in a normal university you are only close to few friends whom you are likely to loose contact with after the university. In NDA the bond is almost like till death do us apart. 

9.Prestige: Honestly speaking, a normal university student in terms of prestige is not comparable to NDA, Cadets are highly respected everywhere, they dress respect, they command respect, they live respect, and it’s in their character, nature, behavior.

Cadets get automatic employment after graduation form NDA, normal university students does not have that luxury except some special courses like medical science.

10.It’s not meant for everyone: 

your university may offer courses meant for almost everyone, it may involve include programme for people with disabilities, foreigners and indigene alike, but in NDA the healthy person will still have to struggle to get in as the medical standards is high.

11.Regimentation/Discipline:  in a normal university regimentation is less, discipline is less, in NDA its required of every students and its always at the extreme, there are no sorry for any mistake. The life is regimented from 4,5 am Life start in the academy , a kind of sleep deprived life you can barely use to make it through a normal university, yet many cadets still make it through NDA with first class degree, Battle simulation from camp initial to highland and the likes ,academics, puttee, punishment, obstacle crossing, punishment(jobs) ready to take cadets beyond their natural limits, wonder why they barely have time for side hustles, although they are paid anyway. But a normal university is full of students who can barely maintain waking up 5: oo am consistently for a month.

NDA in terms of discipline is no child’s play.

12.Two Different worlds: 

Comparing both institution is unfair even if there are similarities, they belong to different worlds; the day you sign up and the day you matriculated, following the color party, you h’ve signed your life, whatever happens to you in the NDA, your family does not have a say over it, your parent can’t take NDA to court to seek redress over the death of their wards who die during training. The government own you and you take permission from it before doing anything .NDA is for those who choose to sacrifice their service and to the extent their lives for the country, for all students and lecturers inclusive.