Nigerian Soldier Breaks 38-Year-Old Record In US, Emerges Best Graduand

A Nigerian Army officer, Charles Nengite, a colonel,
at the weekend, beat 380 other postgraduate
students to the top position at the U.S. War College
(USAWC), Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The information was obtained from the college
website, posted on Monday.

Mr. Nengite’s performance was the best by any
foreigner in 38 years in the college, the information
added.


In one of several letters conveying his choice for
the various awards, the Commandant of the college,
Maj.-Gen. William Rapp, described Mr. Nengite’s
performance as “arguably one of the best in the
international fellows programmes at the USAWC”.

Mr. Rapp also said at the graduation ceremony of
the college that Nigeria should be proud of Mr.
Nengite and his compatriot in the Masters of
Strategic Studies class, Col. Timothy Shipi.
He said “Shipi performed brilliantly”.

The breakdown obtained from the school’s website
indicated that at the graduation of the 2015 class,
Col. Nengite bagged six awards for outstanding
performance in different courses.

He earned the Distinguished Graduate award
reserved for the top five fellows in his class of 381
and also the Commandant’s award for distinction in
research.

Mr. Nengite also received the USAWC recognition
award for innovation in SHARP – Sexual
Harassment and Response Programme and
articulated a seminal paper – “I am your friend
campaign’’ – strategy under the SHARP.

SHARP is considered of significant importance to
the U.S. Army.

Mr. Nengite also received the 2nd best speaker
award in the speaking competition in the 2016
class made up of 302 Americans and 79 other
nationals in 73 other countries.

The Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Gen. Mark
Milley, who presided over the ceremony, told the
audience that graduands of the college proceeded
to occupy strategic leadership positions.

The USAWC was founded in 1901 to specifically
cater for the strategic leadership training needs of
the U.S. military.

Some of the prominent servicemen who had gone
through USAWC in the past were President
Muhammadu Buhari, Collin Powell, Dwight
Eisenhower, George Patton and Norman
Schwarzkopf.