Sleekyshuga:

Awwwww **smiling sheepishly** This is so deep, and I am indeed grateful . I'm happy it could bring back good memories, and I'll try to mention you..

And yeah, I actually allowed your space to remain to continue the expression .. Thank you!!

Happy New Year to you..

Smile. And to u to shuga. Safe

Right here bruh. Happy new year

Dottune:
Yes!!! Ok So I've always wanted to do this, ever since I've been seeing past Corp members experience on this NYSC Section.
I would be sharing my experience right from when I saw my Call up letter, I hope you guys enjoy and hopefully I don't forget the major details.

GL Guys where una dey:
cc Y0rmee, Franceswasky, Dream2, Chumaster, mightyleks, justifiedcoyy, aBbiie25, Greycious, ruthobaz, tenderblaze, edbor, JohnQueen, bussieboi, Funkeadeoye, Dipson and dotman, showgolee.

And shout out to "Off the Light!!!" Crew, Room 2 Hostel 1 Guys

And the Niger Stare journey continues...

We had now gotten to a town where the road was a little bit better, but later diverted of the road where we saw a sign board that had something about "Mungo Park" written on it. The road although not tarred was still smooth to an extent, before we got back into the main road.

The green Sienna was now at our front on getting back to the main road and our driver had attempted to overtake the driver of the Sienna at full speed, instead of giving our driver a chance to overtake him, he instead moved in front of our driver, who almost hit vehicle, but was able to apply his brake smoothly. This continued till we got to a checkpoint where soldiers were stationed, the Sienna driver was getting checked by the soldiers, instead of waiting his turn at the back of the vehicle, our driver instead took to the right of the Sienna and gave him a stern warning in Hausa in front of the Soldiers and we also added our voice to it, I could remember I said "Na rubbish you dey drive o!" . The soldiers on hearing this remanded the Sienna for a while, while we continued with our journey.

Twenty to thirty minutes later we had now diverted off the main road again, but this time into what seemed like a desert, all we saw were trees, sandy soil, little sign of human existence and no network coverage either. And where we saw human settlement, it looked like a little village, their houses made out of muds, cattles and little children with joy written all over their faces waving to tell us goodbye. We were all psyched and waved back to them, while we continued our journey into the desert, this was around 6pm by the way.

We were beginning to get used to just seeing sand and trees, till we got to a stream that had a wooden bridge, the bridge had a relatively short height, with no rails. We were a little bit scared as our driver moved to cross over it, but we soon got over it, Michael even suggested that I take a video recording of it. As the journey progressed in the desert, we kept passing through such wooden bridges, at a time we had to pay to cross a particular bridge that indigenes had built.

We spent over an hours just inside the desert in Niger State, before we finally came to back to the main road again. We had spent close to 4 hours in just Niger State now and it didn't look like we'd be through anytime soon.

Around 8pm, when there was a little network, my mother called to ask where I was, which she has been doing from time to time. When I told her we were still in Niger State, her reply was "ah, did your bus get spoilt on the road?", I told her " no, it is very big". At the time, I had found out that Niger State has the biggest landmass in Nigeria.

The dust on the roads were so much, coupled with the ones on we had been bombarded with while on the desert, I literally started tasting sand in my mouth, like I was eating it. All our clothes and luggage were now really dirty like we were little children playing in sand. Everyone in the bus looked like they had dyed their hair orange, our hair was paying homage to "Olamide's" new tinted hairstyle craze. Debby and the guy sitting close to her hair were the worst, there was no sign of black in their hair at all, we all laughed it off and continued to enjoy the journey.

Over 5 hours and we were still in Niger State, around 10:00pm we stopped at a filling station to refill our gas, which our driver had been doing throughout our journey at any given chance, he wasn't willing to take any chance, I soon discovered this was a norm with Hausa drivers embarking on such journey.

We stretched our legs and got something to eat, while our driver went to pray. There was suya and one other weird meat that I bought, I think it was camel's meat, because it was so strong, I couldn't chew any of the N200 worth of meat. It was like attempting to eat rubber slippers, I couldn't deal mehn! i just got water and went back inside the bus, while the other guys tried to inquire from some people around where we were, they didn't understand what the guys were trying to ask them at all. They kept replying in Hausa, until Moses who had studied in Kastina, was successfully able to relate with them in Hausa and they told him "Niger", but that it shouldn't take long before we got to Kebbi.

Our little break didn't take more than 30 mins, as we were already back on the road.

About 20 mins later while passing through the bumpy road to Kebbi State, a lorry diverted from it's lane, probably trying to avoid the potholes, or so I thought, until it started moving towards us. The driver of the lorry turned off his engine right at the front of our bus, we were trying to figure out what happened, when our driver also turned off his.

I started having bad thoughts in my mind, "did he come to deliver us? why did he and this lorry switch of their engine in the middle of nowhere?" This were the thoughts running through my mind and I'm sure others were thinking the same, until someone chipped in and told us that the guys in the other lorry wants our driver to leave the lane for him and if he wasn't willing to, they wouldn't move away from our front either or turn on their engine. Next thing you know, our driver came down from the bus, went to ease himself at the back of his bus and stayed there even after, obviously not ready to leave his lane for them, he stayed at the back. We asked the guys sitting with the driver at the front, most importantly Moses who could speak Hausa, to try tp beg our driver to leave for them, so we could continue with our journey.

This was the 1st time our driver would get angry, even when the "bad government crew" were using his car charger throughout the journey and he wanted to charge, he begged them to let him use "his" car charger.

Our driver at first didn't bulge after Moses had gone to beg him, after 10 mins and it didn't seem like the "lorry guys" were in a hurry to continue their journey, our driver came back, turned on the engine and we continued. The "lorry guys" said some things in Hausa, which I think would have meant "you for no leave, we for show you today" and had a laugh before turning on their engine to leave. They looked relatively young and way younger than our driver, this pissed me off a little "no respect for the old", I said in my mind.

A Picture showing what the "Desert like area looks like, the stream and the wooden bridge"

Sleekyshuga:
Hahahahaha!!! Now, how will I know when he didn't whisper into my ears ? Don't worry, we have ten months together. Do well to get me a farmland to start practicing Agriculture as I heard the people of Nasarawa State don't joke with their farming & harvesting periods. Money must be made !!

The location of your ppa and where you rent is the major determinant of whether you will be privileged to get a land or not

Karu local government is overly occupied to have excess land and that's where I'm residing..

Anytime you feel you want to start we will probably meet with the Chief of your vicinity to check for any if you're serious though

WELCOME TO NASARAWA STATE

Wishing you da very best of your service year

kingphilip:


The location of your ppa and where you rent is the major determinant of whether you will be privileged to get a land or not

Karu local government is overly occupied to have excess land and that's where I'm residing..

Anytime you feel you want to start we will probably meet with the Chief of your vicinity to check for any if you're serious though

WELCOME TO NASARAWA STATE

Wishing you da very best of your service year

Off topic abeg

I'm seriously interested in going into farming, most especially Animal Husbandry in the North, but I've been thinking of how I'll get a land, how would I go about getting a free land . I was posted to Kebbi State, Birnin Kebbi, there doesn't seem to be any "farmable" land closeby

JohnQueen:
Right here bruh. Happy new year

Dotman I dey where u park me na. Happy New Year to u. Hope you're doing well?

Sleekyshuga:

Sorry my reply is coming in now. I got so busy trying to prepare to hit Nas back.

Yeah, I suspected LGA matters as my friend in Tartara (don't know if I got the name of the LGA) got a farmland, and an accommodation, and we who are in Keffi town got nothing ..

My school is in GRA, same with my house. Can I still get a farm ?

Thank for your wishes.. Settling in little by little.. It's just that language (even the pidgin sef) seems to be a barrier ..

probably a garden around your house

But keffi is evidently the most developed part of nasarawa state..

Senator Abdullahi Adamu made that possible when he was the governor

Constant light and water

I'm sure you'd enjoy there

And that's how I stumbled on this story that I abandoned. Chai! I'm sorry I wasn't able to continue guys.

I'm sure most of us are already into one thing or the other right now.

Hope y'all are good sha?

Dottune:
And that's how I stumbled on this story that I abandoned. Chai! I'm sorry I wasn't able to continue guys.

I'm sure most of us are already into one thing or the other right now.

Hope y'all are good sha?

Pls, next tym don't start something u can't finish. It's annoying personally. Good story line though

We continued our journey to Dakingari. Worn out my the long journey, most of the guys in the bus had started resting on the top of the seat before them, but not because I had no seat with a backrest high enough for me to rest my head, I was seated by the window on the 3rd seat.

About an hour later, I noticed a rusty looking, white signboard, which was now partly brown, that read “Welcome to Kebbi State”. I was so excited, finally we had gotten to Kebbi, “in about 2 hours we should be in Kebbi State” I imagined. What I didn’t know however was, like Niger State, Kebbi State also had a very big landmass. “We don dey Kebbi state” I said excitedly to Michael, pointing at the rusty signboard, he had a broad smile on his face, you could easily notice in smile, even in the dark because of his teeth. All the other guys started wake up, after hearing the news that we were in Kebbi State and shared my enthuasism of arriving at the NYSC camp within 2 hours.

Three hours later, we were still on our way to Dakingari, I was confused and I was almost sure we had missed our way, because by the road side, you could make out the shapes of camels lying around. Although, seeing camels excited me and I could not wait to climb on one of them, I was already fatigued by the journey and I needed to get a good sleep. There were no vehicles at our front or at the back, which reinforced my earlier thought of being lost.

The weather was now cold, my hair which I had just cut at my barber’s a day before embarking on the journey, exposed my head to the sizzling cold. Harmattan had started in the North and the speed from the moving bus, gave room for the dry breeze to sneak into the bus. Closing the windows didn’t help matters, because the vehicle's boot was half opened, due to our luggage at the back of the bus. I had gotten a very big sweater, in anticipation of the harmattan I was told to expect at camp, but it was agonizingly far from my reach. I had kept the big, army green sweater inside my box along with the head warmers my neighbor gifted me. She had kept them with her years after serving in Kebbi State.

I was jolted away from my thoughts when our bus arrived at a road riddled with potholes, one of the buses we had overtook earlier during the course of our journey, was now right behind us, along with three other buses. The strangest but yet exciting thing happened, the buses started racing, it was like the typical scene from a Fast & Furious movie scene, only that this was made in Kebbi. One of the buses zoomed past us, and then another, which kind of spooked our driver, because then he increased the speed of his vehicle, not minding the many gallops we were entering into. As much as I enjoyed this new race that I wanted us to “win”, consistently entering potholes and hitting my head against the side of the bus wasn’t as pleasing.

The bus drivers kept outwitting one other, the race was to be won by the driver who knew the road better and could predict where the potholes were located. Our bus regained its rightful position briefly, before another bus overtook, almost ramming into our vehicle. “Oh it is on” I thought to myself, there was no way my driver was going to be pleased with that sort of dirty racing, it wasn’t five seconds later before another bus overtook us, I gave up and had my mind back on getting Dakingarri. "When we go reach that place sef?" I thought.

Twenty minutes into the race, a market up lit up by yellow and white bulbs was up ahead. You could see people chatting, sitting, standing idly, traders selling and negotiating prices with their customers, hawkers rushing towards buses to sell their goods to the passengers, while some simply enjoyed watching the chaos happening in the market. The major commodities sold in the night were mostly food, fruits, beef and locally made snacks.

Our bus joined the other buses to make a stop in the middle of the market, which I had now noticed was also a bus park, we were soon approached by the enthusiastic hawkers, mostly kids, who carried trays selling different varieties of food. Some were the popular Almajiri kids, who came to beg for alms, snacks, drink or even empty bottles passengers wanted to throw away.

The driver got down from the bus, I half anticipated he was going to have a serious argument with the other drivers, only to start smiling with them, you would have thought they were sworn enemies with how they drove just a few mins ago. They exchanged greetings and engaged in various conversations in Hausa. Most of the drivers were taking prospective youth corp members to various camp locations in the North Western Part of Nigeria.

I guess from the conversation the drivers had conversed in, they had resolved to reshuffle passengers, because not too long our driver asked the two passengers who weren’t going to Dakingari to alight from the vehicle and join two other vehicles going to Sokoto and Zamfara respectively. It was an emotional goodbye, we had all formed a bond from the few hours we spent together during the course of the journey. Five other passengers joined our vehicle from two of the other vehicles, it wasn’t a three on a seat setting anymore, which we weren’t particularly pleased with but we had to accommodate our fellow prospective youth corp members with one goal – Dakingari, Kebbi State, NYSC Permanent Camp.

The final journey to Dakingari began a few mins later. This was a few mins to 11:00pm.

tonymyke4life:


Pls, next tym don't start something u can't finish. It's annoying personally. Good story line though

So I have decided to finish this story, at least up until my camp experience, because of this bros.

I know most of my the guys that were following the thread must have been working by now and probably frequent a little less.
I am doing this for other people that might stumble upon this thread.

I will be cleaning up the errors in the earlier posts.

Following . Please update o

The road leading to Dakingari was a smoothly tarred road, free of potholes or gallops. I enjoyed how the tyres of the vehicle rotated on the road, you could almost feel its excitement with how fast the vehicle moved.
The driver informed us it was going to take less than two hours to get to Dakingari. Everyone in the bus, like me, exclaimed, how can Dakingari still be less than two hours away? We’ve spent over 12 hours on the road. The driver must be making jokes or he probably doesn’t know what he is saying, I thought to myself or how else would he tell us, it would take us almost the same amount of time it would to journey from Lagos to Ibadan. However, from the little experience we had gained traveling in the North, it was better not to argue.

We were silent through this final journey, now enjoying the cool breeze, or maybe we didn’t care about the cold because we were close to Dakingari? The latter seems more reasonable.

I was now seated beside a light skinned lady, mildly chubby or what you'd call "thick". She wore a little frown on her face, I concluded that this must have been because we weren’t really the most welcoming hosts, after she joined us from one of the other buses. I wasn’t bothered about her countenance, arriving at camp occupied most of my thoughts.

True to the driver's word, we got to Dakingari in less than two hours. A big signboard erected along the road right in front of the camp, read “Welcome to NYSC Permmanent Camp, Dakingari, Kebbi State". I was half expecting power supply at the camp, but we were welcomed by the dark ambiance engulfing the camp. The only sources of light aside from the beaming headlights and the flickering inner light of the vehicle, were the flashlights at the Camp’s security post, located at the green colored Gate. You could make out the dark shapes of the men manning the security post in the dark, their laughter and voices traveling through the cold wind.

The driver matched on the brake, our bus had made its final stop at Dakingari. We had arrived at our destination, you could feel the excitement in the air, despite how fatigued the journey we were from the journey, we couldn’t wait to get down from the vehicle. One of the guys who sat beside the vehicle’s door opened the metal door at first try, he stepped out and everyone followed suit.
While this was going on, the driver was busy with the ropes that held the boot against the weight of our luggage. The park boys did a great job, there were no incidents with our luggage during the course of the journey.
Once the driver was done we moved to pick our bags and baggage, my box, which was originally army green wore a new colour, it was now a weird mixture of brownish orange and green, no thanks to the dusts it had accumulated during the journey. Not bothered about its new state, I pulled the dusty box from the bottom of the back seat, dropped it on the gravel filled road leading to the gate, toggled its extendable handle and dragged it along with me, it made the familiar "grrrrrrrrrrrr" when you rolled its' little wheels on the ground.

Michael was still sorting his own luggage, I called back for him to hurry, I was approaching the gate already, along with Muyiwa, Gomez, Debby and Ayomide.
“Michael has always been an unserious boy”, I thought to myself.

At the gate, we were welcomed by members of the Nigerian Police Force, the dark figures I had seen while looking through the window of the bus (which was now getting ready to journey back to the park), were grown men, they had stopped laughing, it was now serious business. They were stationed at the entrance of the gate to screen prospective corp members for any foreign or harmful object and to also ensure we had all the necessary documentation before we could gain access to the camp:
- School ID Card
- A copy of Notification of Result/University Certificate.
- And a copy of the call up letter, showing that you were deployed to Dakingari.

frubben:
Following . Please update o

I have updated

Dottune:
I have updated

following. Nice wrote bro. Am a PCM that's getting ready to serve his fada land

frubben:
following. Nice wrote bro. Am a PCM that's getting ready to serve his fada land

Nothing do you Bro, wish you the best.

Dottune:
Nothing do you Bro, u wish you the best.

thanks man.