Want to know what the Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army logo means? If so, keep reading to find out.

In fact, some people have even asked questions like, ‘why is there an Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army logo’.

Nigeria is an English-speaking country, so it is understandable that many people have questions about the Arabic text on the logo of the Nigerian Army.

The NA was founded in 1960, the same year Nigeria got her independence.

Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army logo and its meaning

نصر من الله Transliterates to ‘Nasr min Allah’, and it simply means ‘Victory from God‘ in English.

However, the inscription is clearly an effort to write out the motto of the Nigerian Army.

Of course, the full motto of the NA is ‘Victory is from God alone’, which translates literally to النصر من عند الله وحده (Alnasr min eind Allah Wahdah). This, I believe, would have been too long to fit into the logo.

Why an Arabic inscription?

Some have attributed it to ‘Islamization agenda’, the same way the Arabic text on Naira Notes attracted widespread criticism.

That is, as a matter of fact, not surprising, considering that Nigeria has nearly the same number of Muslims and Christians.

According to History, the motto was first used by Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, head of precolonial Sokoto Caliphate.

And according to the official website of the Nigerian Army, their history “dates to 1863, when Lt Glover of the Royal Navy selected 18 indigenes from the North[ern part of the country] and organized them into a local force, known as the ‘Glover Hausas’.”

The ‘Glover Hausas’ subsequently became ‘Hausa Constabulary’ and then ‘Lagos Constabulary’ under the leadership of Lt John Hawley Glover.

In other words, the Northern Regiments were the 1st and 2nd Battalions of what later turned out to be the Nigerian Army.

Lord Federick Lugard allegedly adopted the motto of the precolonial Sokoto Caliphate for reasons best known to him.