By Kwin Israel, The Sight News
The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, has taken a fresh step toward addressing a long-standing gap in military healthcare, by inaugurating a Technical Working Group to accelerate the establishment of the Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The new institution is designed to give Nigeria’s military a steady, dedicated supply of doctors, nurses and other health professionals trained specifically for the demands of service life, thereby ending the Armed Forces’ reliance on civilian universities to meet its medical staffing needs.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, Dr. Alausa described the project as an investment in both national security and human capital, noting that those who serve on the frontlines deserve a healthcare workforce built around their particular needs.
He said the group’s formation marks the shift from policy approval to actual implementation, following federal government clearance for the college’s establishment.
“We cannot continue to leave the men and women who defend this nation without a sustainable system for training the healthcare professionals they need,” the Minister said, adding that the Armed Forces should not have to compete with the rest of the country for a limited pool of graduating doctors.
Part of a Broader Push in Medical Education
Dr. Alausa tied the initiative to wider gains in medical training nationally. While noting that the annual admissions into Medicine and Dentistry programmes have climbed from roughly 5,000 to 10,405 under the current administration, he said, there is a goal of reaching 20,000 within two years as more Colleges of Medicine gain accreditation.
Nursing enrolment has seen similar growth, rising from about 28,000 to nearly 120,000 students yearly — a figure he said, has already surpassed the government’s own target, crediting the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria for sustaining quality standards that have earned Nigerian nurses recognition abroad.
Even so, he stressed that the Armed Forces’ healthcare needs call for a purpose-built institution rather than a slice of the existing system. He urged the working group to prioritise disciplines such as occupational therapy and speech therapy that support the rehabilitation of personnel recovering from combat injuries.
“This institution is not being established to compete with conventional universities. It is being established to make the Armed Forces self-sufficient in producing the healthcare professionals they require. Every programme should answer one simple question: does the Armed Forces need it?”
The Technical Working Group draws together the Federal Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Defence, the National Universities Commission, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, the Nigerian Defence Academy and other key institutions, tasked with ensuring smooth accreditation, admissions and programme approval.
Its mandate includes developing the academic curriculum, integrating classroom and military training, coordinating accreditation, and working with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to get the college listed on the national admissions portal in time for the 2026 academic session.
Dr. Alausa said he has already engaged JAMB’s Registrar on this and directed the National Universities Commission to expedite resource verification and accreditation.
Providing a progress update, Major General Idris Babatunde Solebo, Director General of the Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme and chairman of the working group, said the college is being shaped after the Uniformed Services University in the United States, where medical cadets combine academic and military training from admission to graduation — building expertise in battlefield medicine and Tactical Combat Casualty Care.
The new college will be sited at the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna, leveraging existing infrastructure for a quicker start. Solebo noted that the Armed Forces currently face a medical personnel deficit of about 93 percent, underlining the urgency of the project.
Alausa thanked the Minister of Defence and the Minister of State for Defence for their support and said he was confident the college would welcome its first cohort of military medical cadets in the 2026 academic session.
