Welcome to The Institute Of Advanced Military Studies (IAMS),
KWASU Malete.
Kwara State
Founding of the Nigerian Army
The history of the Nigerian Army dates to 1863,
when Lt Glover of the Royal Navy selected 18 indigenes from the Northern
part of the country and organized them into a local force, known as the
"Glover Hausas". The small force was used by Glover as governor of
Lagos to mount punitive expedition in the Lagos hinterland and to
protect British trade routes around Lagos. In 1865, the "Glover Hausa"
became a regular force with the name "Hausa Constabulary". It performed
both police and military duties for the Lagos colonial government. It
later became "Lagos Constabulary". On incorporation into the West Africa
Frontier Force (WAFF) in 1901, it became "Lagos Battalion". In addition
to this force, the British Government included the Royal Niger Company
(RNC), Constabulary Force in Northern Nigeria in 1886 and the Oil Rivers
irregular in 1891. In 1889, Lord Fredrick Lugard had formed the
incipient body of what was to be known in 1890, as the West Africa
Frontier Force, (WAFF), in Jebba, Northern Nigeria. The new unit
expanded by absorbing the Northern Nigeria-based elements of the Royal
Niger Company (RNC) Constabulary. By the end of 1901, it had
incorporated all paramilitary units in the other British dependencies
into its command, thus fully meriting its designation "WAFF". The
establishment of West Africa Frontier Force (WAFF) led to the merger of
all units into regiment in each of the dependencies. The merger in
Nigeria produced the Northern Nigerian Regiment and Southern Nigerian
Regiment. The First commanders of the Southern Regiments of WAFF were Lt
CHP Carter (1899-1901) and Col J Wilcox (1900-1909) respectively. The
two regiments were later used for expeditions during the annexation of
Nigeria by Lord Lugard between 1901 and 1903.
Source : http://www.army.mil.ng