No more competing with civilian universities; Nigeria is about to start producing its own doctors and nurses exclusively for the military.

In a major move for both healthcare and national security, the Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish a dedicated medical college for the Nigerian Armed Forces.

According to cbinews.tv, the Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, made this known on Friday in Abuja while inaugurating a Technical Working Group to fast-track the establishment of the Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The idea, according to a statement by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, is simple but strategic: to end the military’s long dependence on civilian universities for medical personnel and create a steady pipeline of healthcare professionals trained specifically for military service.

Speaking at the inauguration, Alausa described the initiative as a strategic investment in national security and human capital.

“We cannot continue to leave the brave men and women who defend our nation without a sustainable system for training the healthcare professionals they require. Neither can we continue to expect the Armed Forces to compete with the rest of the country for the limited number of doctors graduating from our universities,” he said.

He explained that the new college is not being set up to rival conventional universities, but to make the Armed Forces self-sufficient. The focus will be on producing doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who understand the unique demands of military operations — both on and off the battlefield.

Alausa also directed the Technical Working Group to prioritise specialised programmes such as Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and other rehabilitation-focused disciplines that are crucial for treating personnel recovering from combat-related injuries.

Giving more insight, the Chairman of the Technical Working Group and Director General of the Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme, Major General Idris Babatunde Solebo, said the college is being modelled after the Uniformed Services University in the United States.

He noted that cadets will undergo fully integrated academic and military training from day one, with competencies in battlefield medicine, Tactical Combat Casualty Care and other specialised military medical skills.

The institution will be sited at the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna, where existing infrastructure will allow for an immediate take-off. This has become urgent, Solebo revealed, as the Armed Forces currently faces an estimated 93 per cent deficit in medical personnel.

The minister added that this project complements the government’s broader expansion of medical education. He disclosed that annual admissions into Medicine and Dentistry have grown from about 5,000 to 10,405, with a target of 20,000 in the next two years, while nursing enrolment has jumped from 28,000 to nearly 120,000 nationwide.

The Technical Working Group, which includes representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence, National Universities Commission, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Nigerian Defence Academy, is now tasked with developing the curriculum, coordinating accreditation, and working with JAMB to ensure the pioneer set of military medical cadets are admitted in the 2026 academic session.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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