Talk2Bella:
Everyone is faceless and not important until they become popular or pass away, then we wish and gnash our teeth and lament on how nice we should have been to them, how we should have known them more and tried to be friends, this was exactly how I felt when the death of Asuquo Ukeme was confirmed in NYSC orientation camp.

It started as a rumor, a corps member died in a hospital in the capital of Zamfara state {Gusau}, he was in platoon so so so and so, we whispered it to ourselves, someone had just died in Kano camp, we asked ourselves what was happening? and immediately we began to bind the spirit of death out of the camp but it was too late as the next day it was confirmed that yes indeed a corps member had died, he died and left a grieving family behind.

Do I know exactly what really killed Asuquo? All we were told in camp was “he complained of body weakness and when they couldn’t diagnose or treat him in the camp clinic he was transferred to Gusau where he started defecating uncontrollably till he gave up”

Could his death have been avoided? This is not for me to say, I cannot question the Christian God, he giveth and taketh and all things pleaseth him be it good or bad, Asuquo according to rumors was a first class graduate, he was the shining light in his family, he was the torch bearer who would lift his family out of poverty and yet life was snuffed out of him just like that.

The doctors and nurses at the camp clinic will definitely try their best, after all we are all corpers, we need to fake an illness so we can be redeployed or sent home and so they tend to pay less attention to those who come in with unexplainable illnesses, they write a prescription and when you go to the pharmacy they don’t have it you’re advised to go to “Mami” and “PAY” to get it.

I have a lot of complaints but I am a patriotic Nigerian, I will not wash the dirty linings of my country for others to laugh at, I will only say my bit and see if the government will do something about it. Why would NYSC put the lives of corpers in the hands of doctor corpers who just recently graduated? Don’t get me wrong, these doctors volunteered to be there, but they need experienced personnel on ground for emergencies, they need medical equipments for emergencies, they need surgical materials for medical emergencies they need stable light in the clinic, clean environment and professionals to handle cases corper doctors can’t handle.

Did you know a corps member who was seven months pregnant miscarried? Oh such sights I saw, mighty lumps of blood everywhere, oh please don’t ask me why she wasn’t redeployed immediately, I know what I know but won’t say I am still a serving corps member but all I will say is “She didn’t look pregnant and she was unmarried”

Why’s there a camp clinic if it’s not for emergencies? Poor woman had to be rushed to the capital for proper medical care; I will not play the game of what if, but what if there were proper medical equipments to treat her in camp would the baby have survived? What if she really looked pregnant would she have been redeployed? What if she was married does it mean she would have gotten instant redeployment and her baby would be alive today? But I am a patriotic Nigerian so I will not play the game of “What If”

Don’t blame camp officials, they work with what they are given, do I need to complain about the Food? Toilet? Hostels? And security, we slept with our eyes open, we were robbed how many times, oh and please don’t say indigenes did it they are untouchable it’s our fellow corpers who did it, robbed us in our sleep, we saw and couldn’t move our bodies, our lips were heavy and our throats patched, if you didn’t believe in African voodoo now will be a good time to do so because I experienced it firsthand.

I heard 700 Naira is allocated to each corper for feeding and yet our soup on camp is a reflection of our faces, is it the beans which would make you purge or the rice which look and tasted like “just eat and belleful” but the meat was okay, fear for my stomach didn’t let me eat one day in camp, I have many complaints but I am a patriotic Nigerian and refuse to let others laugh at my country.

What should I say about the cold? This cannot be explained but experienced because no amount of explanation can paint a mental picture of how cold Zamfara is and what the cold does to our bodies. Why is Bella home while her peers are in camp? Bella couldn’t cope, the cold paralyzed her muscles and for days she couldn’t walk, well you all remember what I said about “Unexplainable Illnesses” I had to be sent home and applied for redeployment.

You wake us up at 4am, send us into the cold with nothing but our shorts and whites and our Khaki shirt and ask us to pray and do parade, do we look like we have been to “ICELAND” before? I do not want the NYSC scheme to be abolished, I made some great friends and families there, but I want our lives to matter, you don’t take a riverine fish out of the river and expect it to survive in the ocean, you don’t take a wild animal out of the forest and try to domesticate it in a park, I haven’t had an asthma attack in years but my second day in camp I came close to having an attack.

NYSC scheme need to be rebranded and restructured, we are still working with the 1973 brochure, children of nowadays are like “Agege Bread” soaked in water we are not strong, I saw a lot of things in camp but I am a patriotic Nigerian, I will say what needs to be said “camp officials tried their best”

Asuquo shouldn’t have smelled death in the next 70 years or so, the corper who died in Kano should be planning her wedding very soon, but both Asuquo and the corps member in Kano had one thing in common”NYSC” his parents couldn’t even afford to bring his body home, “NYSC” paid for the body to be taken back to Porthacourt “Oh death you shouldn’t have taken this one”

I cannot say rest in peace to Asuquo

I cannot say rest in peace to the corper who died in Kano

I cannot say rest in peace to the baby who was never born

I cannot say rest in peace to the NYSC scheme

I cannot say rest in peace to their dreams

Oh death how many more rest in peace do you need?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-7FRHpYH2Q


Isabella Ibeji

OP was making some good points. however, am not surprised that sentiment and sensationalism still found its way here. I want to know why there is no mention of the female corper that died in Bayelsa camp? or didn't you hear about that? Of course its more news worthy to talk about Southern corpers dying in the North. A Rivers indigene dying in Bayelsa NYSC camp is just not sensational enough to catch attention. Shamelessness

Anyway people die everyday, In every endeavour. A Brazilian football team perished on thier way to play a football match. Is football to blame for their deaths? More people die as students in high institutions than as corp members in NYSC. As tragic as these deaths are, you can't directly blame NYSC for most of them. Tragedies are unavoidable in life.

MilitaryMinded:


OP was making some good points. however, am not surprised that sentiment and sensationalism still found its way here. I want to know why there is no mention of the female corper that died in Bayelsa camp? or didn't you hear about that? Of course its more news worthy to talk about Southern corpers dying in the North. A Rivers indigene dying in Bayelsa NYSC camp is just not sensational enough to catch attention. Shamelessness

Anyway people die everyday, In every endeavour. A Brazilian football team perished on thier way to play a football match. Is football to blame for their deaths? More people die as students in high institutions than as corp members in NYSC. As tragic as these deaths are, you can't directly blame NYSC for most of them. Tragedies are unavoidable in life.

Probably she omitted it unintentional but she was trying to pass a message to the general public and even to the government that something must be done about this scheme called Nysc. She has buttress her point and wasn't sectional even though you see it from that angle

deedrizzie:
@OP....i sense the passion, and i share it too. However, I'd like to correct the statement that corper doctors are "FRESH GRADUATES"... THIS IS 100% WRONG. As they have already gone through the compulsory 1 YR HOUSEMANSHIP/INTERNSHIP TRAINING at a TEACHING HOSPITAL, after induction. So that's 7yrs of medical training BEFORE NYSC, so please, we may blame the system and facilities...but definitely not we doctors. Thank You

So you guyz are experienced doctors?

Mr man calm down... most corper doctor don't even know what to do when they see complex cases.

They only know how to treat malaria and body pains.

butanep:


So you guyz are experienced doctors?

Mr man calm down... most corper doctor don't even know what to do when they see complex cases.

They only know how to treat malaria and body pains.

Experienced on my foot....
Corper doctor
....most of dem don't know anything aside malaria and typhoid
I rem during camp wen my bunkmate has difficulty to breath...I guess a seizure ..D corper doctor was abt giving her one injection related to asthma sha...we were so fortunate a matron was around if not na anoda story

prettyAdaolisa:
If the government can't handle nysc...they should scrape the damn thing off!...they are humans not goats for crying out loud!!!

So pathetic!

giles14:
no I still dey start.

traffic seekr

seek your own traffic na mbok, i hold u?

MilitaryMinded:


OP was making some good points. however, am not surprised that sentiment and sensationalism still found its way here. I want to know why there is no mention of the female corper that died in Bayelsa camp? or didn't you hear about that? Of course its more news worthy to talk about Southern corpers dying in the North. A Rivers indigene dying in Bayelsa NYSC camp is just not sensational enough to catch attention. Shamelessness

Anyway people die everyday, In every endeavour. A Brazilian football team perished on thier way to play a football match. Is football to blame for their deaths? More people die as students in high institutions than as corp members in NYSC. As tragic as these deaths are, you can't directly blame NYSC for most of them. Tragedies are unavoidable in life.

if i heard or read about it believe me i would have said it, i am not sentimental, did anyone even know about the to be mother who miscarried in camp? yet i spoke about it please don't be hasty to jump into conclusions

I served in dat state, I can't believe they still put u guys in those classrooms, they should have completed the male lodge by now, d cold/wind in that area is on another level, God will see u guys through, mind u, this season's weather is a blessing, wait till u get to the other side; March-August then u will know that there is locally made water bed

asuustrike2009:

Probably she omitted it unintentional but she was trying to pass a message to the general public and even to the government that something must be done about this scheme called Nysc. She has buttress her point and wasn't sectional even though you see it from that angle

I understand her Points and agree with most of them. However, we are a unfortunately sectional country and these kind of news will be scrutinized as such

MilitaryMinded:


I understand her Points and agree with most of them. However, we are a unfortunately sectional country and these kind of news will be scrutinized as such

Yea but I hope the government does something fast to avoid another occurrence

[quote author=Talk2Bella post=51924356]

if i heard or read about it believe me i would have said it, i am not sentimental, did anyone even know about the to be mother who miscarried in camp? yet i spoke about it please don't be hasty to jump into conclusions[/quote

Sorry if i jumped into any conclusions. Am shocked to see you claim you didn't hear of the incident.

Then again am not surprised. It just further buttresses my point. You probably didn't hear it because, like i said, In this Nigeria, it is not sensational enough and isnt 'attention grabbing' enough to see news that a rivers indigene died in a bayelsa camp. But for an akwa ibom or Ondo person to die in Zamfara or kano, of course that will elicit emotions. A Majority of people (not you) will claim that 'they are killing southern corpers in the North'(i have seen such posts here on NL and other social media platforms) that is why i looked at it from that angle. Of course nobody can blame the North if a Southern corper dies in the South.

I understand your Points generally but majority are just a mirror of what we face in anything 'government provided'. One day, go to a government hospital and see how nonchalantly the staff act in life/death situations. You would be shocked. I really doubt if anything reasonable can be done with welfare of corpers. The best is to hope for a good DG who actually has the scheme at heart.

asuustrike2009:

Yea but I hope the government does something fast to avoid another occurrence

I hope so too

Talk2Bella:


Abeg

Hope say u redeploy sha. Me don carry my load run comot Zamfara.

Looking at these pictures, I came to realize why someone said our camp in Mangu, Plateau State was an hotel. Enjoyed my orientation exercise to some extent

Just got out of Zamfara campB today. It was really hell, and the weather is harsh. Late Asuquo Monday was my platoon mate and he even volunteered to be our football coach.. Thank God for life

larrygal:


Experienced on my foot....
Corper doctor
....most of dem don't know anything aside malaria and typhoid
I rem during camp wen my bunkmate has difficulty to breath...I guess a seizure ..D corper doctor was abt giving her one injection related to asthma sha...we were so fortunate a matron was around if not na anoda story

Hahahahah

They are forming experience... I can't even allow a corper doctor to give me injection talk.

Some don't even know where the true veins are located.

Wow, dis one worse dan d temporary site of d camp in Jos den o, atleast i enjoyed myself, d food was ok and atleast i got drug frm d clinic free of charge for frequent stooling and it stopped, d toilet system nt dat good, d weather was cold but i fought d cold, there was also cases of stealing, in summary d experience was a success, no news of death and if one has a genuine case, he/she wil be deployed. Now d camp has been moved to Mangu, were all d facilities are standard. We just pray dat death of dis nature should be avoided by all means in future.

Pls i need a clarification . i served in zm 2012 batch C. Is it dat dey v moved the camp from tsafe or wot. Dz pictures don't look like d tsafe camp i know n is not dz bad.

buccunmie:
Pls i need a clarification . i served in zm 2012 batch C. Is it dat dey v moved the camp from tsafe or wot. Dz pictures don't look like d tsafe camp i know n is not dz bad.

This year d corpers were too much so they were divided into two groups. The first group stayed in the permanent camp while.the second group were moved to the govt. Sec. Sch. Close by.

butanep:


So you guyz are experienced doctors?

Mr man calm down... most corper doctor don't even know what to do when they see complex cases.

They only know how to treat malaria and body pains.

Now... "experience" is not a word I'd use lightly in medicine... but baba, really.. do u have an idea how hard it is to graduate from Medical school??...mediocrity can't survive.... I'm not saying mistakes can't be made oo... but imagine, you go to school... longer than the average person, and someone comes to tell u that u know nothing about yr job?... Haba!

deedrizzie:


Now... "experience" is not a word I'd use lightly in medicine... but baba, really.. do u have an idea how hard it is to graduate from Medical school??...mediocrity can't survive.... I'm not saying mistakes can't be made oo... but imagine, you go to school... longer than the average person, and someone comes to tell u that u know nothing about yr job?... Haba!

I didn't say they know nothing about their job. I only said they have not gotten enough experience to handle complex cases. It cut across all disciplines. Experience is a function of time and specialisation. Corper doctor are fresh graduate and they should be assisted by an experienced doctor who has been in the field for years.

There is different between being qualified and an experienced person. You might be qualified but not experienced in that field. If you go to teaching hospitals, corper doctors or doctors from medical schools are attached to a main doctor. There is a limit to what they can do. Most of them make careless mistake because of their naivety which have sent many lives to their graves.

butanep:



I didn't say they know nothing about their job. I only said they have not gotten enough experience to handle complex cases. It cut across all disciplines. Experience is a function of time and specialisation. Corper doctor are fresh graduate and they should be assisted by an experienced doctor who has been in the field for years.

There is different between being qualified and an experienced person. You might be qualified but not experienced in that field. If you go to teaching hospitals, corper doctors or doctors from medical schools are attached to a main doctor. There is a limit to what they can do. Most of them make careless mistake because of their naivety which have sent many lives to their graves.

Now sir, i agree with you completely... and you could hit the nail on the head more... i opine that each camp should have a consultant GP (general practitioner) on ground... assisted by the many corper doctors present. However, i still feel qualification and what is what is secondary, FACILITIES need to be improved... i mean, bro... see those toilets! I've since lost count of the various bacteria that can give rise to countless pathological conditions from looking at those photos. God Bless Nigeria!

deedrizzie:

Now sir, i agree with you completely... and you could hit the nail on the head more... i opine that each camp should have a consultant GP (general practitioner) on ground... assisted by the many corper doctors present. However, i still feel qualification and what is what is secondary, FACILITIES need to be improved... i mean, bro... see those toilets! I've since lost count of the various bacteria that can give rise to countless pathological conditions from looking at those photos. God Bless Nigeria!

I understand what you are saying. Facilities are inadequate in most NYSC camps and the condition of environment is very poor.

It's all due to bad leadership of the country.

This guy was a First-class Graduate of Petroleum Engineering. Died just like that. smh

An0nimus:
Except I was scanning too fast, text didn't really say what happened.

Most camps have always been in pretty bad shape. I can count how many times I took a dump during camp on one hand. Asaya wasn't pretty bad compared to the above though. The beans was on point most especially.

she already mentioned them indirectly...

Op, I can recommend for a scholarship for you in an American University because you are a great writer.
Well, I feel you will be noticed through this platform. I have taken my time to go through your topics,and at this point, I can only say, 'you are a smart woman and the sky cannot be your limit'.

andyanders:
Op, I can recommend for a scholarship for you in an American University because you are a great writer.
Well, I feel you will be noticed through this platform. I have taken my time to go through your topics,and at this point, I can only say, 'you are a smart woman and the sky cannot be your limit'.

Thanks for the compliment really appreciate it