The year 2017 was a milestone year for me; it was the year I had to follow the predestined path of every Nigerian tertiary institution graduate under the age of 30, in which one is to be posted to any part of the country (mostly to another region) to serve selflessly the great country Nigeria.
It was the year I finally got to serve my country/fatherland in a program known as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The Call-up
I received my call-up letter for the NYSC late January 2017, and like most other expectant young graduates I was posted to a different region of the country.
I was posted to the northern part for Nigeria; which at the time was subject to social/economic tensions due to the rampant violence in different parts of the region. This news was received by a mixed reaction from my friends and family.
My folks and siblings were calmer than I expected probably because I had done my best to prepare their minds for the worst case scenario but my friends were not in high spirits and wanted me to redeploy after the mandatory three weeks camping period. It wouldn’t matter though because my mind was made up on this new challenge of my life which I wasn’t going to back down from.
The Trip
The journey from my state “Ogun State” in the south/western part of Nigeria to my service state “Kaduna State” in the north/central part of Nigeria is a 12 – 15 hours road trip depending on the route.
The journey began from the city of Ibadan where I had spent the previous night around 07:00 hours on a cold Tuesday morning, the bus was occupied by other potential corps members also heading to the northern part of Nigeria. Ladies and gents from different tribes, a bus that has obviously seen better days, a funny talking driver and thousands of kilometers to conquer, it was the perfect setting and we were off.
The trip didn’t go as we had thought it would though; with the bad roads taking a toll on the bus and our bodies and an accident scene that involve a trailer load of cattle where we spent hours nonmoving at a spot. The bus arrives in Kaduna town some minutes before 10pm and from the garage everyone dispersed with everyone but me having a backup plan as to where to spend the night. Thankfully I met two really kind women whom directed me as to how I was going to make my way to the camp ground. By almost 11pm on the hour I arrived at the camp ground after 16 hours of travel, with a huge sigh of relief.
Camp Life and Activities
Camp activities started as early as 5am the next morning with a soldier named kurege aka the beagler whom awoke everyone by screaming and wailing like we were military recruits, it was really scary as we rushed outside with our bags on our heads for inspection and registration.
Before the end of my first day in camp I already made new some friends; Moyo became more of a brother than a friend, Banjo was the Aki to my Pawpaw lol, Feranmi was the ladies’ man, Banty the hottest artist on camp, Segun was a badt guy and Jamiu was a saint.
Over the next three weeks I had more friends than I thought I would, and the ladies were really fun to be around Ife was a darling, Nifemi the crazy one (her and Banjo’s chemistry was something else), Ola was sweet, Hazel the cool one and Eniola my padi… I could go on and on but to cut it short, camp was fun to say the least.
The activities were really fun, I played soccer for my platoon (we lost our first match tho…), and the ladies won the volleyball bronze medal, the social nights weren’t really social and the cooking competitions were a blast, the daily parades were tiring and annoying but the unarmed combatants were fun to watch.
All this and more were part of the most amazing three weeks I’ve had in a really long time, but as the saying goes “everything with a start has an ending” and our time was up before we knew it, making almost everyone wish for more time but if only wishes were horses then we would have spent the whole year in camp.
Our time was up and the real service was to begin.
Place of Primary Assignment (PPA)
Unlike most of my new friends I had opted against redeploying from Kaduna state, I had decided to stay and experience the northern way of life, the different culture, tradition and ideal of another tribe but this means I had to do this without my friends and I had to hope I got posted to an urban area which would make for a better integration to another lifestyle.
I was posted to Dagama Group of Schools, which as the name implies means my proprietor owns a number of schools and takes quite a large number of youth corps members. We were to all reside in a lodge which was provided for us; about 50 corps members from different tribes in one lodge, it was Camp 2.0 “perfecto!”
I can’t think of a way to integrate sensibly into this piece the 10+ months that followed, so I am going to follow the same format of naming the unforgettable ladies and gents whom made this year a memorable one. It wasn’t all fun and games though because we argued, we fought, we quarreled, and we partied and we hustled together. We loved and cared, and had each other’s backs when it mattered most.
The guys are Philip the money man 1.0, Capitan is the gangsta of the group, Dubem “pablo” the ladies man, Zurich the money man 1.1, Junaid was my mad roommate, Ndu the macho guy, Bright was our party planner, Deejay the fresh dude, Olumba the tech guru, Kay the richest, K-cee “mr wa-zo-bia” literally, Mathew is the coolest guy you’ll ever meet, Dami-boy the craziest, Desmond was our best dancer and Kelvin is the bbq guy and the Babies are, Bola is my first baby, Tola my naughty baby, Sochima the sweetest of them, Dami-Oyinda the craziest, Maryam is my scary/ playful baby, Blessing the tender one, Giniboo the second loudest, Jenifer is most cunning, Merry the sexy baby, Hafsat is my surest padi, Betty the cool girl, Christiana the naughty one, Beatrice was everyone’s crush, Halima the certified loudest in the land, Tosin “le ukwu” and Abigal the stylist. This folks made my year and I am glad I can call them all my friends.
Passing Out Parade (POP)
It all ended in december. Months has passed and it was time to move on, it was time to take on the world.
The passing out parade was more like "Collection of certificate" the ceremony was going to be a boring one from the looks of it but no it wouldn't.
The ladies wore beautiful makeups and the guys swag was on fleek and has we received out certificates it was with joy in our hearts, smile on our faces and thousands of photos were taken.
The year had its moments, both sad ones and the happy ones it was far from perfect but simply amazing. 😀
Nice one. I'm serving in Jos, not too far away from some parts of Kaduna. I enjoyed reading this, camp was hell, I hated most of it but I won't trade those memories for nothing.
Hated most of it?? Why na..
The memories were priceless tho
I camped in sokoto..but redeployed to lagos..d experience was a bittersweet one in sokoto and i was glad I experienced it
Kindly followback upvote my post and resteem..thanks
I hated just about everything about camp. It pissed me off that I had to constantly take orders without complaining
This is indeed the chronology of your service year. Nice one bro