07/11/2007 NYSC Orientation: 3 Weeks of Hell?
3 weeks of life in a confined space much akin to a minimum security prison facility, living with people of
different cultural backgrounds and religions from all over Nigeria, congested accommodation with 28 people to a
single room, the nastiest of bathroom and toilet sanitation, waking up at 4:30am every damn morning, very
little food unless you had the cash to splash; boy was I in for one hell of a ride.
Chapter I: National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
Chapter II: Foreign vs. Local and the Grey Area
Chapter III: The 3 Week Orientation Camp
Chapter IV: Accommodation
Chapter V: Dress Code
Chapter VI: Daily Drills
Chapter VII: Food & Supplies
Chapter VIII: Catching Fun
Chapter IX: My Friend Udeme
Chapter X: Main Events
Chapter XI: Next Phase: Cheap Labour!
Chapter I: National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
What the hell is it do i hear? Well NYSC is an obligation to all Nigerian citizens that have just completed
university to serve and help develop the country for a year, just like you’re obliged to serve in the military
for 1 year in some countries. Upon graduation from university you are randomly posted to one of the Countries
36 states where you must partake in a 3 week orientation camp after which you must work for the remainder of
the year. The mandatory aspect of it all is that without serving Nigeria you will be unable to work within her
as all prospective employers will require a proof-of-service certificate prior to considering you for a job.
Why the hell did i do it do i hear? Well only those that graduated from university above the age of 30 are
exempted from service. Other ways you can bypass the service is to seek employment elsewhere outside of Nigeria
or start a business within Nigeria as opposed to working for someone else. I wanted to keep my options open as
I wasn’t 100% sure on where I wanted to work (Nigeria or abroad) so I decided to put my game face on and do it.
Chapter II: Foreign vs. Local and the Grey Area
The normal procedure is that if you went to University in Nigeria then you will be randomly posted to any of
ther 36 states (excluding your state of origin and the state you went to University). However if you were
fortunate enough to have gone to University outside of Nigeria then you were given preferential treatment; you
could choose which state you wanted to serve in. My initial choices were the popular Lagos and Abuja camps, I
had heard about the 5 star hotel-like camps in Ogun state but I opted to serve in Lagos instead because of it's
reputation as the commercial hub of the nation and once the 3 week orientation camp had finished there would be
a lot of opportunities waiting for me to take advantage of.
Fact: 95% of all corpers that ended up in Lagos state rigged their service
posting, paying anything within the range on N10K to as much as N50K just to get posted to Lagos. Some even
paid nothing because they had the right contacts while some unfortunate few, despite the fact that they paid a
whole lot of money still didn’t get into the Lagos camp. Only a lucky few (if any) actually made it into the
Lagos camp on the strength of coincidence; although I’m yet to identify anyone that falls into this category.
Chapter III: The 3 Week Orientation Camp
The orientation camp was akin to a military boot camp, except the soldiers gave us a lot of slack. Registration
alone took like 5 hours and most of the time was spent waiting or filling out forms under the scorching
Nigerian sun. I'm living proof; I was brown-skinned when I went in but now there’s no mistaking it, I’m black.
Chapter IV: Accommodation
If I told you the camp was like a half-star hotel then that would be an overstatement. Over 3000 youths turned up, about half of which were guys and 28 guys were assigned to a single room consisting of 14 double bunk beds. The cleanliness of the bathroom and toilet left much to be desired while water and electricity were pretty much non-existent. My only saving grace was that I had attended boarding school in Nigeria during my early years so adapting back to fetching water from a well and cuing up for food wasn’t a problem, but a prior life of hakuna matata in the UK put some speed bumps on my transition period.
Chapter V: Dress Code
The dress code for the camp came in two forms. The parade attire consisted of a light green baseball cap, a crested white t-shirt, a light green khaki long-sleeve shirt and trousers and bright orange jungle boots. The PE attire consisted of a plane white t-shirt, white shorts and white sports shoes. Although these clothes (and variations of them) were on-camp regultion attire, trust in the rebellious nature of we the youth of the nation , we still wore mufti most of the time, especially on the free Sunday's.
Chapter VI: Daily Drills
The daily drills involved waking up at 4:30am in the morning for 2hr exercise sessions, followed by 2hr marching sessions at 9:00am. The exercise sessions were mirrored again at 4:30pm in the afternoon but in this instance the exercises were sometimes substituted with sports activities like football and volleyball instead. Sunday being a day of rest was different, after the morning Church service most of the day was free.
Chapter VII: Food & Supplies
The food is free and paid for by the government, but at N250 per day per corper you can’t really expect much from it. The only time you would catch me in the vicinity during mealtimes was during breakfast when we ate bread or during lunch and dinner times when they served rice (especially on Sundays when the rice was specially prepared). The good thing about the Lagos camp was the Mami Market; a vast array of vendor’s setup under canopies selling everything from food and drinks to clothing and accessories.
Chapter VIII: Catching Fun
Fun was partially derived through the social interaction with both the guys and girls (mainly the girls), participating in and watching the sports activities and a handful of parties and events held by the NYSC coordinators. Such special events were hosted independently by Celtel (a concert-like event featuring popular artists such as Weird MC), Guiness (sponsored the Mrs. NYSC and Mr. Macho competitions and featuring Olu of Maintain) and MTN (sponsored the campfire night and cooking competition).
Chapter IX: My Friend Udeme
"My friend Udeme, a great man" was the running gag of the Guinness stand during my stay on camp. It originated
from the highly successful Guinness promotional advert featuring a pilot named Udeme who achieved his childhood
dream of becoming a pilot and spends most of his evenings with his friends at the local Guinness bar. Any
Guinness drink as well as anyone known to spend most of thier evenings in the camp's Guinness stand would come
to be known as Udeme.
Although a lot of things changed, one thing that remained the same was the Guinness joint. Standing tall and
proud and filling the night life with gyrating music, ice cold booze and bright lights that would guide the
international flights flying overhead home. The Guinness stand was the hub for all corpers seeking social
interaction, merriment and the need to drown their daily stress, future worries and past sorrows at the bottom
of a bottle of extra cold Stout, Smirnoff Ice or Gordon Spark. No matter what problems befell you, you could
always console yourself in the fact that you had a friend in Udeme, a truly great man; the only problem was he
didn’t come cheap.
Chapter X: Main Events
The main events of the camp were the inter-platoon competitions, a Manowar session and the endurance trek. Upon
arriving at the camp each corper is assigned a platoon (1 to 10) and each platoon would compete against one
another in an array of competitions throughout the 3 weeks including marching, football, volleyball, cooking,
sanitation etc. The Manowar session is a series of physical activities including an 8-foot wall to be scaled
solo, a rope-net to climb, an obstacle course to complete and a 12-foot wall to be scaled as a team effort
under time restrictions. The endurance trek was a grueling 6-hour walk under the Nigerian sun into the
neighboring Ogun state and back. The few that couldn't brave the distance opted for public transport but most
rose to the challenge, some even using the fact that other guys and girls around them were still going strong
as mental support to keep going. I’m glad to say I took part in all the activities.
All in all I had a blast, met a lot of interesting people and made a lot of new friends. Let’s just say It was
a once in a lifetime experience that I would rather not visit again.
Chapter XI: Next Phase: Cheap Labour!
Well, the 3 week orientation camp finally came to an end, it went by pretty quickly and now it’s time for the working phase. You’re assigned to work for a company; be it a local government, school, telecoms, oil & gas or brewery etc. As a corper you're not paid the same wages as a staff so we get paid anything from N10K to N50K (as opposed to say over N150K for your average staff) depending on where you work. Well, i’m trying to sort myself out for this phase so i guess i'll keep you posted on any developments.
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