Every parent wants their children to serve the country. There are many ways in which you can serve my country. But the one we always pray for and the one the parents are always proud of is called nysc (national youth service corps).
This is done after you have successfully graduated as a student in your school. As individuals, we see this service as an achievement.
And we cherished it a lot. To so many people, we see this achievement as something we must achieve in our lives. In fact, people get sick because of this so-called service. As a student, you must serve if truly you graduate well.
Their ages, to this service. If you hit a certain age as a student, you will not be able to serve again; you will be given exemption later instead. Once you reach thirty years of age, you will be given exemption later.
This so-called service is one year, and you must of all go to a three-week camp. The three-week camp is more of paramilitary training. There is lots of discipline, and you have to follow all the rules and regulations in the camp. We have been secured by the military personnel, soldiers, police officers, men of war, the Red Cross, and so on.
The purpose of the camp and the service itself is to make sure that we are able to meet all the tribes throughout Nigeria.
Since not everyone has the ability to travel to other states to study, the camp will make each and every one of us come together and be a family. I could remember I lived with different tribes before I left my service year, and I was able to cope with each and every one of them.
Do I think it's necessary?
Well, as for me. I enjoyed everything about the service. The only way a student can meet every tribe is just by the nysc, and believe me, the camp is awesome if you really want to enjoy it. When I was in camp, I made sure I did everything they were doing there.
I did it because I didn't want them to tell me a story about camp. And I know it's just once in a lifetime; you can't camp twice. Meanwhile the only way to have a reason to travel to another state is also through service. There is a lot of honor in camp. And yes, there are lots of people that have benefits from camp in one way or another.
Although there are disadvantages to it too, is there anything that has advantages that doesn't have disadvantages? Kidnapping is one of the disadvantages in camp, and accidents too. But then that doesn't mean everyone does every time. Meanwhile, there is no work in society at all. The only way to be able to collect money from the government is through service. And from there some people see good jobs, and even see good
relationships in camp and so on.
In my opinion, service is not a bad thing; we government should continue it because there is nothing better the government can do. No jobs, nothing at all. Service is the only thing that makes us happy a little bit.
I was so happy during my service times, and I met a lot of beautiful friends that became my family. Till date we still talk, and I love them so much.
I sincerely learned a lot in my service, although my eyes opened to a lot of things. Service is just one of the best I enjoyed and even made me a leader. So yeah, I like it.
All images are mine