Share Your NYSC Experience

NYSC wouldnt have been so bad if the Government could have seen fit to send us engineers to engineering related jobs instead of leaving us to teach in village secondary schools. The painful thing was, after one year of teaching maths and physics, you'd have the same Government calling you a half-baked engineer!

anyway, NYSC was a funny experience for me. on the one hand, i got to see lots of people and travel to the east for the first time. On the negative side, i used to run a web design biz and i was reasonably successful at it. one year in a no-water no-light no gsm village changed it all. I had to bring my pc over to the village and bought a gen, that made me the target of hatred from my landlord who felt i was too pompous for a 'small boy'. That, and the fact that i was the only person in the compound of 10 that used toilet roll (instead of their favored plantain leaves) made them feel i was living large.

one nasty thing that happened, when i bought the gen, my next door neighbour compained that the noise was bothering him, he threatened to shut me down unless i powered his outside light. i had no choice but to comply. The first day i turned on the pc to watch a movie, all the neighbouring kids came crowding round my window. to entertain them, i put on a home video. that was my big mistake. they knocked and knocked until i let them in (i'm a sucker for kids) and then they started running over my foam witht heir bare, dirty feet, one ripped open my discman and as i was scolding him another one was chewing up my pack of cards. I drove the louts out!

i banned them from ever entering my room again, apparently thatmade their parents even more pissed. One day my gen blew my monitor. I heard the woman next door say it served me right in Igbo. Beef!

The school was much worse. i came in there like a whirlwind trying to change things. I was horrified to hear that in the last WAEC only on egirl managed to get 6 Cs, and she was the only one out of 60 girls that passed maths. I took it upon myself to change things!
First day i got there, i launched into an impassioned speech about decency and hardwork and future career prospects and the need to move the school forward. Then i finally told them that i want an interactive class and that i wouldn't flog anybody etc. BIG MISTAKE! Once they learnt my natural aversion to beating girls and they saw i wasn't going to flog them, it was all over.  at that moment my speech cost me all hopes of enforcing discipline. don't know why, it works in the movies 
did the girls want to learn? nope! in a class of about 50 girls, when I'm teaching you'll see 12 breaking melon into their berets, 5 sleeping, 12 giggling and passing love notes from their latest village beaus, 1 girl sweeping the class, 5 gisting with other girls through the window. any girl i send out will come leaping through the window next time my back is turned. It was either teach or spend the whole time enforcing discipline.
at least i was inspired to teach until i marked first term exams and half the class got 0/80. This in spite of the fact that i even solved exam-like questions in class 2 days to the exam, and i told them the same thing'll come out. they just couldn't be arsed to read.
What didnt i try? to teach computer education to Jss3 i used my own computer and my own generator. they refused to listen, just because i wouldnt cane them. Jss3 maths i asked them to buy a mathematical set so they could use for trig drawing. they refused. SS2 girls didn't know how tp use a four-figure table. I asked them to buy tables, most didnt. i asked them to photocopy the tables at the back of New General mathematics. compliance rate was like 5%. I had to give up. How the heck do you pass maths when u can't read a four figure table?
How the hell did i end up teachin pythagoras' theorem for 3 weeks, something i learnt in 30 minutes, and then 90% of them failed it in exam? WTF is hard about a² = b² + c² ?

The final killer for me? My principal forced me to solve WAEC maths and physics for SS3, blackmailing me with the threat of telling my ZI about my trips to write job tests and interviews. this, after i'd been the most strident critic of exam malpractice. After that blow, i lost all enthusiasm for teaching.
The irony of it all, by me solving the maths for them, i finally made a difference in the WAEC maths result, just not in the way i hoped for 


Notable NYSC Quotes:

"Corpers don't worry! Ohafia is not like Isiala Ngwa where your camp was, where they eat people. here in Ohafia, highest during estival they may cut off your head and dance with it, but they do not eat people here"

--Ohafia LGA chairman in his welcome speech to us.

"How can corpers come all the way from their states and carry all our money?"

-- Umuahia councillors, removing names of Corpers from the Polio immunisation supervisor rosters and substituting them with their own (semi-literate) people, despite the fact that corpers dominated in the qualification tests.

"You wan make i slap that ya face join wall?"

-- Tout threatening me in Ohafia park for daring to take front seat.

"I go take slap block one of ya ear"

-- Okada man threatening me with severe soft-tissue damage for daring to protest his high fares.

"Nna, Fanta and mirinda, all na the same N50. the two of them yellow"

-- Market woman happily chose to inform me that mirinda attracted the same price as fanta after i'd drank the stuff.


"Use this one to buy something for yaself"

--Vice-Principal of the school casting down N500 on the table after i'd been forced to solve the WAEC. I'd never felt so insulted in my life.

"I'm going to deal seriously with igbo girls!"

-- fellow corper confiding to me his plans to avenge his posting my sowing wild oats relentlessly.

"BooHoo! eeeeeeh!"

-- me weeping profusely after being teargassed by police on my birthday, february 2nd 2005 in Aba while trapped at the back of a vehicle.

My name is Tola. I grew up in Louisville, Ky and Nashville, Tennessee.  I came back to Nigeria after 16 years absence.  Getting information to serve as a foreign train graduate was not easy, but me and my sisters were able to scale through and I believe that you will too. First, you need to show up about two month before camp commence so as to register with NYSC national office in Abuja.  They are the only one that will register you.  Make sure that the school you attended in the States is accredited.  This is very important.  Have all your certificates original and Photo copies as well as your school identification card.  You will probably get preference to places like Lagos, Abuja, Ports and other major cities.  The experience for me was wonderfull because it was unlike any I have ever had before.  I was posted to Abuja, and I later reposted my to Abaji for personal reasons.  But I believe you'll be fine, just be yourself try not to act like a Yankee.  By the way, I am still in Nigeria!

@frosbel, I also served in Kano state, though it was at a later year.

 Camp was in Wudil, and it was a blast!. I arrived just hours before closing time, and I had just missed my bus. I regret not following up on contacting my roommates at camp. Nigerian memories indeed!

come on u guys, nysc is not soooo bad. mine was a worthwhile experience. av lived under my parents all my life (apologies to all those who are used to being on their own, for me, it was something new) and i felt i needed some time away from them to truly be on my own and "grow up". and the nysc did exactly that for me. it was the most amazing year of my life, camp was DIRTY, no light, filled with all kinds of people,  NFAs (no future ambition) and focused people,  but considering what it has down for me spiritually and mentally, i am grateful to God that i went through it.

truly, God took me to another level (a lower one for that matter) to help me see what other people in our country have to go through on a daily basis. it is not until u go through shit that u decide u must get rid of it. sometimes u must stoop to conquer to make a headway, but its always worth it. i know now that there is hope for my country, i want to make a difference and really help build Nigeria.

nysc has humbled me and helped me become independent from man but dependent on God. if i were with my parents, i'd probably work in my dad's company, in a nice car, sleeping in an air conditioned room (i never knew d value of that until my bestfriends became heat and mosquitoes, they visit everyday, guaranteed to keep u awake all night!), and of course waiting for some rich dude to come marry me. 

but with nysc, on my own, its different, i have to feed so i definitely have to get off my butt, find a job and work, i have to make something VERY useful out of my life, so i learn and build myself spiritually, mentally, emotionally. more than anything else, am no longer afraid of being on my own or facing those life long hurdles. i still have a long way to go, but av never felt better that God moved my cheese.

moreover, i have a stronger relationship with my Jesus, (truly, its when ure fustrated that u remember G O D), av lost acquaintances and made such wonderful friends. i lost my boyfriend though but am happy now because i now know what marriage with him wouldve turned out to be if faced with pressure. my solitude helped me grow and realise that there will be disappointments with no one to turn to, but one must be dynamic. we shouldnt get too comfortable in our position, but build on strength and an adaptability to change.

am a better person bcuz of nysc, and like every other point in life, i depends on how u choose to see it.

NYSC was fun,
I schooled at  RSUST Port Harcourt, served in a seconday school, IN BAYELSA 2002.
The contacts i made were great, the people i met were wonderful
The joy of wearing a khaki was also great.
the fact that i hail FROM A RIVERRINE AREA and was serving in my locality was welcomed by the villagers .
MY FRIENDS THERE WERE SCARED STIFF TO CROSS RIVER.
THE ORIENTATION CAMP WAS HELLISH
IN ALL IT WAS AN INTERESTING EXPERINCE
I HAVE WONDERFUL PICTURES,MET PRETTY BABES,MADE SOME CASH AND DIDN'T GET A JOb THOUGH RETAINED AS A TECAHER.I ONLY WORKED FOR 5MONTHS, AND LEFT

Yeap, that reminds me, Today is the Passing Out of Batch B 2006 Corps Members .

I'd say Congratulations to you all, and do not forget to S H A R E YOUR E X P E R I E N C E.      

yea thanks! i just finished from Gombe state,  shld upload the picshures when i get to lag.

Thanks , Am just sooooo impatient is a vice, but hey we are exactly half way there now

Nysc to me is filled with ups and downs, some enjoyed while some didn't, i will consider my self as on of those that had mixture of the Good and bad part of service, I got a strain ankle on the third day of  of camp resumption, that ends all the military parade for me, i hid under the pretest of pains, sometimes stay indoors during the morning devoution and PT.  I diskike every aspect of the military stuff not knowing  that i will be posted to a military establishment.
  I was posted to NIGERIAN NAVY ENGINEERING COLLEGE SAPELE. I remember my postin letter had ' NAVAL BASE' while some had NNEC, so i was a litlle confused if i was going to be in their residential area. All the same we got to sapele and found out we were all posted to same place, i stayed for two days then went back to my house, i didn;t think much about the base until time came for me to go back, I remebered that i cried from Ibadan to Ijebuode  I wished i could change my posting to somewhere else. i got to sapele and i refused to unpak my things for the first few days i was bent on finding somewhere else to serve. i tried but i didn't get anyone, I was posted alonside 7 others which were guys, so  happened to be the only lady coper and one of the few ladies in the Base, ,  it was difficult at first later I learnt to cope with my status, and  i did enjoyed my self enventually, I made sure i did not make anyone special than the others and i was very principled ,even some principles were strictly for the service year. Among the naval officer ,  God granted me wisdom to live with them, they all respect me and care for me, ,it's not my doing, it's just the mercies of the Lord

Well well, what can i say,after reading the experiences of texazzpete,i cldnt help but laff and reminisce, i served in 2006 @ akwa ibom state,i only passed out in january 07 and being soo far away from home it seems like it was aeons ago.the service yr began of course with the 'call up' letter,as i schooled in ph i expected to be thrown into zamfara on any of the neighbouring towns,just as my course mates were.the 1st thing i saw on my letter was AK,of course with my mindset then i assumed i was going to akure ,but it turned out that i was wrong,it was AKWA IBOM,only 2 hrs away from ph,YAY!!!(i was already planning my home trips even w/o starting the service yr.)
well,said my goodbyes to my teary family on valentines day.turned out that i went to the wrong park,so the bus took aprox. 5hrs to load(no kidding)in the process of waiting i made friends with a fellow soon to be ajuwaya,and it made the journey easier as we chatted all the way.we arrived uyo about 6pm,we raced to take the only taxi going to camp.as we got there,i 4got to mention that i literally took a 'supermarket' in form of my box,to camp,having heard of the horror stories of purging and all what not.
so,supermarket in tow,feeling very happy with myself,i walked majestically into camp,only to be harrased by the fearsome 'koko'(he became my best pal l8r)to carry my box on my head and frogjump, i looked from him to the large box,and laffed in his face.of course u can only guess what happened
anyways,getting settled in was pretty easy,but the 1st night was kind of hard because chics had to bath outside and trust the guys to find themselves gravitating towards the girls hostel!!!!!!
anyhow,with throwing shotput into the "wilderness" of ikot eti udong and vultures flying around waiting for the 'spoils'ugh!!!!
and experience i can never forget i assure u.of course as a regular otondo i joined OBS and was 1 of the key broadcasters,all in a bid to escape the gruelling parades.our camp commandant was a clown,pretending to be brutal when in fact he had the heart of a baby.i only went to mammy to get food and come back to the room,most of my roomies then we would eat from my box.i made some really great friends,who even contact me now that I'm no longer in the country.i also met the love of my life towards the later part of my service yr.(he helped me cut short all those trips to ph!)
or can i mention the principal and proprietor of the school i served who did their best to "toast that pretty corper"awful!!!!!and the students who would 'madam'me around,I'm sure they found it funny that i would give them notes to copy and go to the back of the class to read my cosmo ;Dthey would keep on turning their heads around to look at this very strange teacher!!!!!!
i had loads of fun,with charles and the guys,and my homegirls calli and nasa,we had soo much fun those days going to wimpy's,the most happening joint then in uyo.if asked to do it again,bliv me i would,as it was a very thrilling exp!!!!!!!

when i heard i was sent to zamfara---- i nearly die.
camp was fun, despite the really bad living conditions there. girls had to bathe outside, sleep anywhere u can lay a bed. camp was dirty. when they drafted me to a village, 2 hours away from civilization, i was like God! no network, no nuttin. these hausa people no sabi speak English. i remember gisting with one of the teachers and i asked him if they had pools in zamfara state because of the sharia, the guy was like "yes, we have flenty flenty fools" i no fit laff tire. the students nko? "come", they don't understand. i remember giving them a composition on "myself", one went thus:
In the name of my father mukaila
In the name of my mother salifatu
in the name of my brother abdul
in the name of my wife aishatu
alhakbha. i no fit shout. i give them 10 marks for remembering to write their name, 5 marks for getting it correctly. it was really fun for me. i just saw it as an experience.

NYSC especially the 3/4 weeks spend in camp is all fun but after camp the experience is a kettle of fish if you are not fortunate to be posted to a nice place. My only advise is that if you are not married before going please you don't have any business fallen in love with any guy because 99% of guys on camp are only looking for babes to sleep with. Within those four weeks spent on camp i can't count the numbers of toasters that I had but i knew better that they were only after one thing which is sex. If at all you have  feelings for a particular guy wait till after camp for the guy to prove himself if he is real. I don't subscribe to the fact that the 1 year spent as a copper is wasted but rather it is a must have experience.