The National Youth Service Corps is a compulsory one-year programme for all Nigerian graduates once they are below thirty years old. You will only be given an exemption letter if you have passed the age while you are issued a certificate which you can work with from any organisation or company. Same with those who serve their father's land, by the end of the one-year programme, you are issued a certificate which will qualify you for a job as it is part of the requirement in most organisations or companies.
It was my dream years ago to become a corper and here I am today, fulfilling my dream and also obeying the clarion call. Before I continue my supposed ranting, let me write the Nysc anthem (a Nysc official even called it Aitem yesterday while lecturing us) 😂😂
Youth Obey the clarion call
Let us lift our nation high
Under the sun or in the rain
With dedication and selflessness
Nigeria is ours, Nigeria, we serve.
If you read the lyrics well, you will see that this is a do-or-die affair. It means you have promised to obey the clarion call anytime, any day without complaining. Thank God, the rainy season is over in my own time because it would not be funny to come outside even in the rain for parade activities while on white. But the sun in the North can blind someone's eyes. I know by the time I am done after 21 days (we still have 11 more days to go), I will turn so dark with no recognition 😫
Spot me in the line. This was during the swearing-in ceremony where we are officially called Corp members
I signed this and I must endure till the end. I have always wanted to experience life at the orientation camp as people would narrate their experiences, the sweet and the bitter ones. I also wanted to have a taste and feel what it looks like to be a Corper. Mind you, this camp activities is compulsory for all corpers which only last for 21 days before we are posted to where we would work for the next 10-11 months, except in some cases where some persons would buy their way in avoiding the activities and the pregnant ones as they would be permitted to sit back so as not to stress their condition. I have seen hell in my 10 days in the camp and I feel like going back to my father's house and telling him I am no longer serving my country. 😐
A part of the parade field, the pavilion where we have our lectures and morning devotion
We are being confined in camp as everything we need is being provided for. We would only be allowed to go out once the days are complete. The life of a Nigerian corper is like a slave being locked in a building with instructions given. No matter what, we are under their directives as they tell us what to do, when to sleep, eat, relax and even defecate. We are just like sheep being ordered by their shepherd.
This is where the stress comes in for me as I am already tired of the whole thing and it is something I will have to endure till the end except I want to be evicted.
The first tiring part is waking up at 3 am daily to fetch water. My hostel is located upstairs, you can imagine how exhausting it is to lift two big buckets of water twice or thrice daily from downstairs up to my room and at the end of the day, someone would steal my water and no one would claim to be the culprit. I started hiding my buckets under my bed so no one would go there, but there was this southern lady who would use my water, claimed she was the one but I wouldn't talk. It's so frustrating but the day I changed it for her, she saw the other side of me, and she stopped. When you are too gentle, they take advantage of you until you speak up for your right. Everyone would start hurrying to bathe, that is another delaying part where you have to stay in the queue for a bath. You queue to fetch water from the tap, queue to bathe, queue to get your meal for the day. Everything done here is by staying in the queue and it becomes tiring at the end of everything.
Before 5 am, as that is the time the bugle would be sounded by one of the soldiers. Anyone still found in his or her hostel would be the one to wash the toilets. Here we have over 13 toilets in the first female hostel which is upstairs and no one would want to be made a scapegoat for washing the messed up and stinky toilets. Apart from the bugle sound by 5 am, the whistle would be blown repeatedly to bring us all out of our hostels. You need to come and see how everyone would run outside while pushing ourselves from the stairs., who wants to be the last person? 😂😂
This is where we were running to the parade ground as soldiers were waiting for us outside while shouting at us to run and not catwalk. While on the assembly ground, I would be dozing off because I didn't have a good sleep but a short one. After the morning devotion, the activities for the day kick-start. The only resting times we have are during breakfast which lasts for an hour, and lunch which lasts for 3 hours, this is the longest relaxing time of the day when you see a lot of corpers using the time to catch up with sleep. Once it's 4 pm, we are out again for the last man o' war and drilling activities. By 6:30 pm, dinner is served and by 8 pm, we are out for the social night again which is a compulsory activity for everyone. By 10 pm, we are done. They give us 10 minutes to get to our hostels and boom, the light is off. You can see there is not much time for me to even engage on Hive because, at the end of the day, I feel so weak and would sleep on time knowing I would be up in another 3 hours' time to fetch water and bathe on time. Imagine ordering us to switch off our phones once the light is off. Are we small children to start telling us when to use our phones and when not to? They do not allow us press our phones during the day and when it's night, they would force us to sleep.
Another boring part I dislike most is the one called "SAED" (Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development). This class is always over 3 hours. It is the most boring activity on the list where every corper would start sleeping. Someone said if you are suffering from insomnia, you should attend the SAED lecture, you won't know when you will sleep off. A guy who sat beside me two days ago during the lecture videoed me when I was dozing off. He showed me and I laughed so hard. He promised to delete it once I had the video which he did afterwards, else, I would be the next person on headline news that Princess was seen sleeping during the lecture 🤣🤣
Camp is sweet but these activities are too much with no enough time to rest or do other things. I always manage to draft my post down during the social night as it is the only time we are permitted to press our phones. I would have prepared all and scheduled my post for the next day and I would try to engage a little before putting down my phone. It has always been a tiring day for me and that would continue until the end of the orientation camp. The countdown has begun....11 more days to go starting from now. Wish me well so I don't break down.
All images are originally mine.
