President Muhammadu Buhari arrived at the Nigerian Army trooping and presentation of colours parade on Thursday, April 27, at the Eagle Square in Abuja. During the parade, he unveiled 28 out of the 81 national and regimental colours.
The regimental colours are for the newly established operationalised units and retired unit colours of the Nigerian Army.
What Do Regimental Colours Stand for and Why Are They Relevant?
Regimental colours are regarded with great reverence, unlike unit flags. The unit flags are always flown along with the national flag in units, while the regimental flags are placed in the commander’s office along with the national flag.
For the colours to be moved out of the commander’s office (including the C-in-C office) for any ceremonial or regimental parade, such as Independence Day Anniversary, Swearing-in of the Executives, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, passing out parades, and others, the national/regimental colours must be escorted by armed guards throughout the parade. Any attack or seizure of the colours is regarded as a defeat of the commander or even the capture of the country if the seizure is from the office of the C-in-C.
During parades, all the participants are marched on parade first before the ensign to the colours accompanied by armed escorts follow suit. Those soldiers on parade present arms, and all the people at the parade square must stand up to show respect to the colours. Similarly, during the parade, as soon as the colours are approaching the GOH who salutes the colours, all the guests seated must stand up and wait until the colours pass.
Regimental colours are awarded to formations and units after their formation and are retired when the formation or unit becomes defunct as a result of organisational or structural changes. This applies to Special Task Forces, and as soon as the STF has completed its assignment or downgraded to Battalion or Forward Operation Base (FOB), the regimental colour is retired. Battalions are commanded by the Commanding Officer and are not a Commander.
Colours are awarded to new establishments and retired ceremoniously, where the entire parade will give a final compliment to the colours. The regimental colours are awarded to new establishments or re-awarded if torn or very old.
Regimental colours bear the number of campaigns embarked on by the military for peace enforcement or peacekeeping, both locally and internationally since its inception in 1914, like the World Wars, Burma campaign, Liberia, Sierra Leone, among others.
Flags only carry the particular unit’s logo and do not require any ceremony. Flags are hoisted as early as 6 am and lowered by 6 pm. Only the bugle is blown by the bugler to herald the beginning of the day’s duties and at the end in the evening.
