My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper - NYSC - Nairaland
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Dairy Of A Borno Corper||serving In Borno And Everything Involved / My Nysc Experience As A Borno Corper Camping In Katsina.second Week In Camp / My Nysc Experience As A Borno Corper Camping In Katsina.first Week In Camp (2) (3) (4)
| My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by hakeem4(m): 4:01am On Nov 07, 2019 |
This is my personal experience Well this is actually my first telling a story. But I’d try and paint a very good picture of the north as a first timer. (get ready to see through my lens). Let me give a brief introduction about myself. Just so you know I was born, grew and schooled in Lagos, except my university life which I did in otta (it’s still close to Lagos, so I can indirectly call it Lagos  ). Technically I have never left Lagos state. I graduated this year from the department of civil engineering. Just so you know my parents were still taking me to school and bringing me back home during vacations  . So I planned on using this NYSC period to explore the other parts of Nigeria (especially the northern states). I was really interested in the northern states because the way Nairalanders usually comment negatively about these northern states. Based on their comments, I had already pictured how the northern states would be in my mind (seeing camels and donkeys instead of cars ) don’t mind my childish imagination. I also had one course mate of mine who was from plateau and I was always teasing him that when ever he graduates he would immediately dethrone the king of his village, cause he’d become the first graduate from his village. Until he cleared my doubts that the north is not really as bad as the way the media portrays it to be. So that also fuelled my curiosity to visit the north and see these people. So fast forward to the nysc online registration. I picked Borno, Enugu, Kano and Cross river as my preferred state to serve. Most of my friends were telling me how they wanted to arrange their nysc package so as they can serve in their state of choice. But I felt well then we are already defeating the reason for nysc  . When the call up letter came up I saw Borno and I saw that we’d be camping at baba ruga katsina. I was actually happy.To be continued |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by Nobody: 6:11am On Nov 07, 2019 |
Okay. let me also take a nap. Wake me if you continue. 1 Like |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by lolmakoks: 8:09am On Nov 07, 2019 |
Nice one Can't wait to hear more |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by Kabir2Mohammad(m): 10:36am On Nov 07, 2019 |
How was the weather? I know it will take u days before your body acclimatized |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by hakeem4(m): 8:23pm On Nov 08, 2019 |
After seeing my call up letter, I joined some WhatsApp group and telegram group chat for borno pcms. Different people were just dropping different jokes about the north . It was the group chat I found olamide and we became very good friends. We planned how we were going to go to camp and many other things. I agreed to go to camp via bus so I could see some parts of Nigeria. So we decided to use a company (I won’t mention the company so as not to tarnish their reputation) that promised to get us to the camp itself. we got to the bus park around 11am, because from the poster of the company those of us going to katsina were to start their journey 1 pm. When we got there, there was not a single bus to katsina . We were all disappointed. The manager kept on telling us that the buses were coming that we should wait. After waiting till about 8 pm in the night people started complaining and fight erupted ( you should trust your government school students.) that’s one thing I love about these students. While I was just waiting and having hope for the katsina bus to show up. The pcms were just fighting the manager for him to return our money. The manager now agreed to refund our money around some minutes to 9 pm. My friend olamide helped me collected my own money while I watched over our loads. Then one student said he has ordered about 2 buses from iddo to come down to where we were and take us to katsina. Around 9 pm the bus man called the guy and told him they couldn’t come and pick us. Except we come down to iddo to get enter the bus. Around 10pm that night we had to chatter a bus that would convey us from cele to iddo. Next thing I saw a call from my mum, at first I didn’t want to pick the call. But I later I picked it up so she won’t panic, then I told her that we were still in Lagos and we’ve not found bus that would take us to katsina. She started telling me that I should not be walking late at night that Lagos isn’t safe and so on. Immediately I replied “mummy don’t bother yourself I’m a man”. When we got to iddo the bus that was to take us had only space for 2 people left. So olamide and I quickly rushed to pay and we got into the bus. The next thing we started begging the driver to take us to katsina. The driver said he has not rested and he just came back from Maiduguri. After about 5mins he agreed to take us to our destination. There were actually 2 drivers in the bus, the second driver was an intern. I was actually scared that what if he sleeps while driving and he drives us into the ditch, during the trip I couldn’t sleep cause I didn’t trust the driver lol. So we left Lagos around 11:30pm that night. We then passed through Lagos Ibadan express, then another express road between oyo and osun ( I couldn’t check the name on the map because there was no network) but I saw a sign post mentioning ikire. Then we entered ekiti. I noticed that those market people there left their goods outside and no one was there. So I asked my friend olamide and she said people don’t steal here, that if they wanted to buy anything they’d pick it up and drop the money. I was shocked and I wondered why Lagos can’t be like this. Next destination was ondo. While in ondo my 4g network came back and I saw various hills in ondo. We spent about 3-4hrs in ondo, then we entered lokoja. Well lokoja wasn’t really impressive to be honest. We spent over 5hrs in kogi. What I also noticed was that at most check points, the driver must surely drop 50 Naira bribe. The bribes were mostly given to the police men. It was only one soldier I noticed that collected the bribe. While at the lokoja express, the driver didn’t have 50 Naira change to give the Sars officer, so he gave them about 200 Naira. The Sars officers didn’t want to give the driver change. Immediately the intern driver came down to fight the SARS men. I said isn’t this aboki scared that these officers can shoot him. Then one guy in the bus said “to an aboki death is nothing” in Yoruba. Then we got to Niger state, to be honest Niger state is actually very big and hot! Well we were on the express for over 5hrs. We saw the zuma rock. One lady said see the face on the zuma rock, and I started laughing, she then asked and I replied that there was no face there that it was just her mind playing tricks. But most guys in the bus didn’t agree with me. So we stopped at a petrol station to rest. I got down to buy rice, I noticed that Dey don’t sell rice like the normal Lagos canteen, I told the lady I wanted rice 150 and she laughed and said they sell per plates. So they gave me a plate of rice 300 Naira. I noticed a bottle of water that cost 50 Naira in Lagos, cost 100 Naira in the north, and the common soft drinks we get in Lagos for 100 Naira is Sold for 150. when we got to kaduna, I saw a very different lifestyle from that I was used to in Lagos. First of all the way they hawk was quite different from that in Lagos. In Lagos most hawkers hawk with swag. Here in kaduna the hawker can just carry about 4 sachet water (pure water) and be walking in the midst of the vehicle’s, no single container to hold the pure water. The way the beggars beg in kaduna is funny. They carry big bowls and bucket to beg on the road (funny right). As a structural engineer I was looking for amazing structures but I didn’t find in kaduna ( one of the best states of the north) I was just seeing typical 2 storey building( 1 suspended floor). When we got to zaria the bus driver said he was tired so he transferred us to another bus to take us to katsina. While we were trying to enter the bus, I bought sugar cane worth 50 naira. If you see the long sugar cane the mallam gave me, in Lagos you can buy that sugar cane for 250 naira. We boarded the bus and heading to katsina, to be honest katsina is just a village ( maybe I’m talking from my Lagos perspective) it’s filled with bush and forest. Just within katsina we spent over 4 hrs just to get to the camp at old mani road. When we got there, the driver Said he is not going again!! Haaa by 11:30 pm he just dropped us in the middle of an unknown state. Who do I know in this katsina. The only place I’ve heard of in katsina is daura because it’s the presidents’ village. So I got a bike to take me down to baba ruga( that’s where my camp is) so we agreed 400 naira. The rider didn’t understand English. He was only shaking his head. The way the aboki was driving fast inside that harmattan breeze was almost injuring my skin. Water was coming out from my eyes. So we got to baba ruga around 12:00am Wednesday. Immediately the okada guy saw the nysc logo he shouted “oooo Akoi the law!!!” To be continued 1 Like
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| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by hakeem4(m): 8:38pm On Nov 08, 2019 |
Kabir2Mohammad:well I fell sick sha |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by hakeem4(m): 7:37pm On Nov 09, 2019 |
When we got to the gate, the NSCDC official asked me to bring out my ID card, call up letter and medical certificates. Then he went on to check my bag, while checking it he found some drugs ( anti malaria drugs). Immediately he said these drugs aren’t allowed and he’s going to confiscate it. Then I told him of my experience in Lagos with a Hausa drug seller. I wanted to buy flaggyl from one mallam. Then the mallam replied by saying do I want to buy the 150 naira own or 350 naira own  . In my mind I knew the mallam didn’t know what he was doing or he was purposely selling fake drugs. Since then I’ve made up my mind not to trust these aboki’s selling drugs by the road side. The nscdc officials and I just laughed at my experience and I was asked to go in. So at the gate I bought I bought mosquito net for 500, then we started trekking down to the hostel. There was no light and my phone battery was low so I had to use my friends phone for light. So the ladies went their separate ways and said good night to olamide, seyi and I went to the male hostel. We got to one one tree then we met two army men who asked us where we were coming from, seyi replied Lagos. Then one of the soldier asked if we were tired, immediately I shouted “yes oooo I am tired”. They laughed and said “una never sabi anything” We got to the hostel and I noticed almost everyone going to carry bunk and mattress outside. Seyi and I joined them. After setting up our bed space I asked one guy if there was bathroom, he laughed and said “bathroom no Dey this place ooo”. We finally slept off around 2:30. Around 4 most guys in the room were already awake, they were all putting on their white shirts and shorts. I remember one Nairalander telling us a trick to avoid parade; which is that you’d have to wear mufti and carry your file, so these soldiers and man o war won’t stop you. About 8 am on Wednesday I went to join the queue for the registration. Around 10 it was my turn, when the man checked the signature on my certificate it was different from what the school uploaded so the man asked me to wait for over 30 mins before he finally approved it. After registration I knew I was in platoon 4, I went to collect my kits. When I got to my hostel I noticed almost everything wasn’t my size, the jungle boot and white canvas were too small, while the khaki were toooooooo massive for me. It was as if they used 6 yards material for the trouser and another 6 yard for the jacket. So it was time for evening parade, I still wore my mufti outside. Now let me tell you some few things about the north. The sun comes up as early as 7:00am in the morning and sets around 5:30pm in the afternoon and it’s blazing hot! After the evening parade, I met one of the guys who was supposed to follow the company that was meant to transport us to camp. Coincidentally he was in platoon 4, we became good friends and he suggested that we should join OBS so as to skip the parade. We went for the obs registration, the guy just said “write your name we go call you later”. After registration we went to chill at the market, my friend nicknamed “Scot” brought about 3 babes for us to chill in the market. The market was not really that lively like that of Lagos camp. Firstly they don’t sell alcohol, secondly, most of all the vendors were just selling noodles (shey na indomie I wan chop for 3 weeks). Scot, the 3 babes and I all chilled and introduced ourselves. Few minutes past 10pm we went back to our hostel to sleep To be continued |
| Re: My Experience In Katsina Camp As A Borno Corper by hakeem4(m): 8:46am On Nov 11, 2019 |
On Thursday morning, I wore my white kits and went for parade. We used the morning parade for the swearing in rehearsals, all the marching styles and salutations ( to be honest, I wasn’t really interested in it). After the rehearsal we went back to the hostel to have our baths and get food to eat. Unfortunately for me I didn’t have the time to get to the market to buy food. Why didn’t I just eat the camp food ? Well there are various reasons, but one of it was that the first food I saw was weird. They served okra and eba, when I looked at the okra soup the okra was passing through the water. Just like when Moses was passing through the sea. To put the final nail on the coffin I heard they used Ajinomoto as the seasoning, the same Ajinomoto people use for bleaching white. Make this aboki chef no go bleach my intestines lol! What I also noticed was that About 70% of the Corpers here are from kwara state ( uni ilorin, kwara state university and all other polytechnics in kwara state). The way you’d know these students is when ever they talk they would surely put “fah”. But the main people making the camp fun for me are the guys from warri! When it comes to comedy we just have to give it to them. They have this way they speak their pidgin that makes the joke funnier. So on Friday nothing really happened because I was sick and I was admitted. Now let me tell you one thing I hate about the north, it’s the houseflies and mosquitoes. Those mosquitoes and houseflies are really troublesome, if you think the ones in south are stubborn then you know nothing. When you Compare the mosquitoes in Lagos to that of the north, then You’d know the mosquitoes in Lagos are still doing IT when you compare them to their mates up north To be continued |
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