Welcome again to the part 2 of the of the NYSC story.
In the previous chapter I explained my camping experience and all the ill experience and the brutal nature of the soldiers. How they maltreat corp members, even going to the extent of calling them white fowl or otondo.
In this article, I will now explain in details my NYSC experience after camping. The good, the bad, the ugly.
The Story Begins
After NYSC camping, I moved to the NACC(Nigeria Federation of Catholic Corp Memberr) family haouse and stayed there for a period of one month i.e the month of December 2016. After my stay there I had to travel back to Cross River State where I reside. I and my friends decided to travel by a train because we wanted to have the experience. It would have been our first time travelling by train but experience is more hilarious than it sounds.
We got to the Kaduna train station by 10:00 PM GMT+1 and there was no available train and we were asked to wait for the arrival of a train. We waited until 3:00 AM the next day before the arrived. Behold, the train we have been waiting for was filled right from Kano state. People were struggling to enter the train some people were crying as well because they don't have the money to pay for transportation by vehicle as the fee was very high at this time because it was a festive period. Tears rolled down my eyes when I saw a pregnant woman crying while struggling to climb to the top of the train. Note: to the top of the train not inside the train. Notwithstanding the freezing cold at this period in Kaduna state.
On seeing this I quickly told my friends that I won't follow the train again, I can't withstand the stress and we left for the motor park.
By January we returned back to Kaduna state to continue the serving of our Fathers land that does not care of our existence or what happens to us because they are giving us #19,800. This is when NYSC started properly.
I reported to my PPA and resumed duties. In my PPA(Place of Primary Assignment), there was no accommodation, I had to borrow money from a friend to rent a self-con room. This made suffered in the first 3 months of my service year because the allowance I received was used to pay debts and my neighbor was the person taking care of my feeding with all the insults attached to it.
At the 5th month of my service year after paying all my debts, I began to explore Kaduna state. That was when doors of favors opened upon my life and I got a contract to build my first website for a Government firm: National Institute of Public Information (NIPI). Here is the website http://nipi-ng.com. You are free to check it out.
PAINFUL EXIT OF A FRIEND
It was during NYSC that I lost a dear friend, a brother and also a corp member. During my course of service, I was made the CLO(Corpers Liason Officer) of my PPA, I got know all the serving corp members in my PPA so I knew this friend of mine called DAMIAN. A vibrant young man so full of life.
He died in a ghastly motor accident when he traveled during school vacation. I got so disappointed with the whole NYSC blablabla when I observed that nobody single soul from my PPA even the school admin attended his burial yet they will mount pressure us to carryout duties but we are neglected in the time of needs.
The guy beside me is the friend that died during NYSC
Fun in NYSC
The fun part of NYSC is just the avenue it created for you to meet different people with different culture and different behavior. You live in the a community where you try to adapt to everything there do, their food and so on.
I also enjoyed my students in my PPA, there were wonderful.
NYSC came to an end successfully for me. Now what next. On the day of my POP(Passing Out Parade), I got instant employment with the company I am currently workin with. But what about others. They were thrown into the Labour Market to fend for themselves.
Most of my colleagues are still roaming the streets looking for job. Anywhere I never believed in job seeking. I am a job opportunity creator the CEO Toxaswift Nigeria an IT solution company.
Check out the website @ http://toxaswift.com
Conclusion
I am not painting the NYSC scheme black but it should be restructured for the betterment of the participants. I didn't talk about the extortion that takes place in our various CDS(Community Development Service). Let me end the story here because if I should continue, this story won't finish.
Thanks for reading.
Image Source
All images are from my phone camera
