2015 BATCH A JIGAWA CORPER TO SET UP NGO SHORTLY AFTER POP (Passing out Parade)

"THINKING TOMORROW"

During his one year of active service, Ehi'zogie Iyeomoan embarked on a free food for Almajiri boys in his Place of Primary Assignment - Malam Madori Local Government Area, Hadejia Zone, Jigawa State, North-Western Nigeria. He plans to set up an NGO, THINKING TOMORROW, and his currently garnering support from donors and international donor agencies the world over.

According to Ehi'zogie, the programme was inspired by watching fellow Corpers (dying of thirst in the hell of their camp during Orientation) buy without paying, sachets water from poor scraggy looking Almajiri boys.

The twice in a month programme took care of the needs of 89 Almajiri boys in his PPA. And the programme was self funded, and later contributions came in from followers on Facebook motivated by his act of kindness.

In his words, 'during those days in camp, I would take to some quiet place where no one would see me, and there, replay the suffering and not smiling faces of these hungry boys, AND I CRY AND CRY AND CRY. Funny enough, these kids- Almajiri boys where answerable to some bigger ones who had given them the bags of water to sell on their behalf, with promise of a morsel of food that won't even satisfy a house mouse. What happens to them in the hands of their taskmasters is better imagined.'

Ehi'zogie then decided to cater for these boys wherever possible, or not, as he always says on his Facebook page where thousands of people follow his inspiring humour filled stories bordered on his day to day Northern experiences. He uses the hashtag #ThinkingTomorrow #iBLEND #iCOUNT on all the stories, so you could easily trace all of them on Facebook... The most recent one on his timeline would make you cry and smile at the same. I bet my life on this. Some of the stories have been solicited for and published in local and international journals and magazines.

The sweetest of them all is the one he titled: WHY YOU DON'T SEE ME ON NYSC COLOURS, where he gave salient reasons why Community Development Service (CDS), a core programme of the NYSC, should be scraped.

Ehi stated and I quote "I noticed that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme has outlived its relevance. I am of a school of thought that the National Youth Service Corps should be scraped or restructured. But why?, you may want to know. Reason is that the Corps programme is only a temporary palliative from government to trap for one year, an army of soon-to-be-jobless Nigerian youths who had spent millions or hundreds of thousands of Naira chasing a degree under very harsh socio-political cum economic African skies. Then when these unfortunate graduates go into the Corps, they are told to aspire to complete a Community Development Service (CDS) and ensure it comes out well. These purported projects require huge sums of Naira in the real sense and funding from the benefiting community comes almost late, or not at all. So these award-dreamy job-hungry Corpers then borrow money from family and friends to conclude these projects in-lieu of an award that could bring a good job or an advanced-degree study scholarship...
Now out of about 1500 corps members in each of the 36 States of the Federation, only about 2 to 5 are awarded by the State where they served. The rest are deemed unfortunate misfits. How pathetic! Then in the Federal level, I think the same minute number receive Federal government awards and possibly scholarships to study abroad (since our Nigerian Universities are trash cans). I laugh in Arabic.
Corps members impact so much on societies, yet they are first-hand victims of electoral-associated violence and other forms of human rights abuses. The nation does not value their lives, and that’s why corps members (graduates) are murdered and no form of compensation whatsoever is paid to the bereaved family, who had invested their entire life on possibly that only son or daughter who accomplished what they were unable to – getting a BSc or a BA degree.
With the way the NYSC is structured, you'll rarely find any Corps member embarking on a "Selfless Project".
Stupid as it may also sound, the following is in the NYSC prospectus – “get married during active service to a fellow youth corps member and you’ll be paid five-hundred-thousand Naira." What if all Corps members decide to get married? What a waste of national human resources!"

The full article which received about 56 shares can be found on here:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=796341790492515&id=100003501044846&_ft_#footer_action_list

The young internationally recognised Poet and Writer, who's got chains of literary prizes including: TWO PUSHCART nominations, a UNESCO sponsored Castello Di Duino poetry prize from the University of Trieste, Italy; awards from the Korean Cultural Centre, Nigeria and he's also a Fellow of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, OSIWA.

On Monday the 21st of March, on event of this year's World Poetry Day, Ehi will be in Abuja to receive awards for his poem: WE ALL DIG OUR OWN GRAVES.

Ehi'zogie is currently working on his second poetry collection, A spring of endless songs, and would be travelling out of the country after service for a Literary Fellowship to complete the book. He's also working on his first novel which he plans to transform into a movie.

The 2nd Class graduate of Economics and Statistics of the University of Benin, Edo State, has also got 2 job offers in the FCT, courtesy of his Thinking Tomorrow project... Partner agencies are soliciting to assist Ehi and help make the project - which Ehi says is the NEXT BIG THING - a come-thru reality.

Ehi says "now that the end of my service year draws close, I look back at the beginning, and the future, and cry. A painful yet sweet cry. I already miss the beautiful boys.'

To find more about his THINKING TOMORROW project, you can find him on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ehizogieiyeomoan and click on the hashtag #ThinkingTomorrow on any of his posts.


He tweets @fulanibuoy on Twitter, and Instagram.

More photos will be added after this.

See Ehi on NYSC colours

More photos

He calls only male Corpers to assist him while he cooks, since the female Corpers disappointed him

Everyone in the community loves him. And in this photo, he is with Zaharadeen, one of his students who sells fish to cater for himself and 3 of his brothers. Ehi'zogie protronises Zaharadeen and as service year comes to a close, Zaharadeen offers Zogie this big fish worth 600 Naira in the North.

Ehi'zogie with Corper Julie and two of the boys who graduated from the Almajiri Arabic school in Malam Madori. One of the boys is now a business man based in Bauchi.

Hmm! This is highly commendable.

Sorry guys, which class of the society are termed 'almajiris'?

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