First Graduate Military Officer from Middle-Belt Nigeria

 

Many Nigerians might think General Gowon was the first to attain this feat having come from the same region. However, it was actually Lt. Col. James Yakuby Pam- born on November, 1933. He attended Central Primary School, Pankshin and St. Paul’s Primary School, Jos; Barewa College, Zaria for his Secondary School, where he did very well and received an “Exemption from the London Matriculations,” a recognition reserved for students with excellent performance.

He got enlisted into the Nigerian Army where he attended the Regular Officers’ Special School in Teshi, Ghana for 6 months before proceeding to Eaton Hall, England for further Military training and graduated at Royal Military Academy, Sanhurst, England, and received the Queen’s Commission as a 2^nd Lieutenant in 1955. He returned to Nigeria as a full-fledged Officer under West-African Frontier Force (WAFF)- making him the first Graduate Military Officer from Middle-Belt region of Nigeria, and 14^th in the entire Country to have joined the Military. He was also the first African to command the Third Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Kawo, Kaduna State, and later became the Adjutant General in the Nigerian Army- the position he held until 15^th January, 1966, when he was killed in active service during the first Military coup d’etat in Nigeria.