THE STORY BEHIND THE JOURNEY: CHRONICLES OF MY SERVICE YEAR

My name is Adebayo Mukaila Folounsho fondly call Kowope by admirers, a graduate of the prestigious polytechnic, the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

I served my fatherland in a community called SIME, Tai LGA, An Ogoniland of Rivers State and I absolutely enjoyed my stay there. But, before I go into the full gist, let’s have a rewind back to how it all happened.

I was mobilized for the spring-to-winter season of 2019 Batch C stream 1 of the NYSC scheme. As providence have it, I was mobilized to Rivers State when the call-up letter came up. Out of four-4- States chosen at the point of registration: Kano, Kwara, Ogun and Rivers States, I wanted either of Kano or Ogun State, but I resorted to fate when I saw NYSC Orientation Camp, Nonwa/Gbam Tai, Rivers State on my call-up letter with the welcome message on my portal “welcome to the treasure base of the nation, Rivers State”. I was in awe of mixed feelings; the long journey, the language and tribal barriers and what a few! Even my mummy was not happy because of the distance, she was so annoyed, why do I have to be posted that far, she enquired.

Scaring, She was so scared of Eastern part of Nigeria because of how the city was busy with lots of strange people and how they are so dubious and often trade anything over money. That's not the real face of our dear Eastern people.

On this, I will reveal to you, their real face!

Interestingly, as days goes by, my nerves got calm and the excitement of being a ‘corper shun‘ drooled all over me, although Rivers State is one of the best three States in Nigeria; in terms of economy, modernization and infrastructural development. Lagos and Kano States are the other two.

As such, I travelled the 15-hours journey from my state (Kwara) to Rivers State which was adventurous, boring adventurous because I haven’t travelled that far all my life and boring because the journey was a long one, i had to sit in the bus for that hours. How managed?

Just like the same feather that flock together, the other passengers in the bus were Corpers like me and that made it fun and interesting. While stumbling and wake up to realize we are still on the journey, again I tucked the earpiece in my ear and listen to songs then fall asleep again.

My butts were hurts so bad but what Nigger is about to be a government pikin.

I was so anxious to get to camp and see what the world was like there. We got to camp later in the night and everyone were already in their respective hall because it’s about time for Lights Out.

Very quickly, the second day, I did all the necessary registrations and boom guy got her oversized kits. Immediately off to mammy market, that popular market for Otodo like me, to adjust the kits to my perfect size. Copper shun must look attractive.

The first week was a struggle for me (I’d called it survival of the fittest). My body system was doing me one kind, I hated almost everything from the soldiers shouting here and there to the early morning parade plus the SAED class got me tired.
(I wanted to go home). I haven’t gotten friends I couldn't mingle up yet.

Be that as it's, I was all about myself. I was in platoon 9
(platoon 9 people, extremely funny – We have the troublemakers, the bossy ones, the ITK types and different crazy people) I was just observing maybe I’d find friends to roll with. Alas. I met the best Squad. They made camp so fun for me, we acted like we have known each other for long, we chatted, made jests, took pictures, roamed about and all, it was fun. Yet, I was tired of the morning drills, endless lectures and the soldiers won't allow one to press phone at the SAED was annoying type.

Life in mammy market was amusing. Mammy market sells anything at all, you’d just find whatever you needed to make yourself comfortable. In the camp there’s so much fun and enjoyment especially at night (there was always loud music and drinking of alcohol) what do you expect from the Eastern people?

They're the most alcohol consumed people, meanwhile, that didn't in anyway speak bad of the Easterners, but shows how unique people they're.

Sincerely, I didn’t enjoy the mammy market food, because most of the food were either half done or tasteless but later I found one Iya Ibeji who makes and sells all kind of Yoruba local dishes. I switched and that alone eased the worries of camp! What an amazing cook she was.

The third week which was the last days in camp was fun, I knew I was leaving camp in days and that got me excited, but I had mixed feelings, I was already missing camp and all the friends I had made there.

I had a wonderful, fantastic but stressed drilled 3-weeks camping. I participated in number of activities
for my platoon (I participated in the match parade and we took the first position). Carnival was lit too and I enjoyed every bit of the last days in camp and most remarkably was my participation in the inter-platoon football competition as I was the DOS (Director of Sports) for my Platoon and automatically the Captain of the Team, Platoon 9.

By extension, I met new friends from nook and crannies of Nigeria considering the merged; people of diverse cultures, languages and religion beliefs. Friends and colleagues from the prestigious Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin were of no exception. Most noticeable of my new friends in camp was but not limited to Muhammad, a friend from the core northern part of country. He's from the ancient city of Sokoto, the caliphate State. The handsome and smart Muhammed, graduated from Baze University Abuja, one of the industrious private varsity in Nigeria.

He was my best friend throughout the 3 weeks and times spent with him and worth sharing. Many among his friends were my co-discussants, as I we always dine and wine on national issues. Alas!

The three weeks camping that looked like 3 months ended and my camp bestie was posted to the City of Port-Harcourt with his friend. That ended the relationship but we were distantly best of friends throughout the service year through constant calls and ear glaring feedbacks. As a regular Corper like me (without any long leg), I was posted to one community secondary school in one of the remote areas of the state, Sime Community, an Ogoniland in Tai Local Government, I waited no minute to accept my fate as I didn’t even opt for relocation or whatsoever.

Affirmatively, it's the pact I have signed to serve Nigeria with all my strength, under the sun, under the rain with dedication and steadfastness.

Another page of service to humanity, having reported to my PPA (Place of Primary Assignment) and done with the necessary documentations at the Secretariat of my LGA, Tai, I proceeded on the 2 weeks after camp leave and didn’t return until after a month due to some necessary things to settle at home. I was full of enthusiasm, energy and strong-will to make a difference in my journey of national service. I reported fully to my PPA in January together with my roommate (Muibi Muhammad a.k.a Lite) for the commencement of the new academic Session. There are couples of friends who were posted to the same School as Corps-Members but above all, George, is the best! We stayed in the same Community (Nonwa) very close to our PPA. We rented apartment very close to each other and belonged to the same CDS group, of course, Sports CDS; we have been sportsmen right from Camp. George was our number one goal keeper in CDS. He is well-built, has a balanced religious and social life; We talk and do sports together.

To the really business, on my first day at the PPA, I was assigned to teach Economics even though I’d preferred Mathematics for the reason that I can’t be available for all the 5 days of the week due to CDS and many things affiliated to that, but my Acting Principal then, Mr. Hawkins advised me to take Economics as the school is lagging behind mostly in that area. I was surprised that a whole school of about 300 students has just one Economics teacher. This country is bleeding.
I agreed but informed him of my schedules to which he agreed. I teach the SS2 students three times in a week and we use to cover the syllabus with cooperation from the subject teacher and the students. I love the students. Their age bracket is 16-20yrs. A total of 80 students; mostly populated by the Females in ratio 6:4. Are tough still doubting the world of female?

My experience in the PPA is such a nice one. The students love to always see me on Khaki which I really don’t fancy. I teach them Economics. My background in Special Education and Statistics gave me a good mastery of the students’ mental and social characteristics which I used effectively in facilitating learning outcomes for them. The principal and most teachers in my PPA used to complain about laziness and incompetency of some of my colleagues to teach and perform basic teaching and academic tasks like marking of students’ notebooks and showing capacity as role models to the students.

But I told my Principal that some of us are not at fault as not many of us studied educational course or have been exposed to teaching before. So, it would be difficult for you to expect a graduate of Environmental Biology to be very competent as a teacher when he has no knowledge of educational and learning strategies couple with teaching methodologies.
He agreed with me but restated that, it’s part of the misdemeanor in present Nigeria society, as there are no other places to post Corps Members to in large numbers other than schools. I was moved by the poor performance of the SS3 students of my PPA in Mathematics and decided to offer a helping hand to take them Mathematics according to WAEC and JAMB syllabuses on part-time basis and aid their preparation for the 2020 WEAC SSCE and JAMB.

Not many of them cooperated even though I didn’t charge them a dime for extra 1 hour after school lesson. The number of those who do attend regularly wanted to discourage me in the first 2 weeks of the lesson but I motivated myself with the popular quote that says “many are called but few are chosen and among the few who are chosen, only the survival of the fittest wins the race”. I counted that as my personal community service without expectant of reward from NYSC or anybody rather Almighty God. That's a means of contributing my quoter to correct the mayhem of education system in Nigeria.

My service year was a tripod of routine events and activities teaching at schools, football trainings at CDS and on evenings at my host community, an Ogoniland, with average of 45 minutes drive to PH city has similar characteristics with my hometown in Kwara State (Asa). No commercial banks, no stable power supply and a culturally inclined metropolitan community, densely populated. So, I have been used to using POS to make financial transactions (though their charges are higher here) and the epileptic power supply that makes every compound to have generator and makes the children (and even some adults too) to giggle and almost roll on the floor whenever NEPA flashes the light.

However, the only major difference between Asa and Tai is that while we have no good roads and road networks in my hometown, there are fine-fine roads and road networks in my host community, most of which are courtesy of NDDC and the State Government. The people of Ogoni are unique, rich in culture and traditions but I must say the level of indecency and youth unemployment in my host community is worrisome, pathetic and massively unabated on daily basis. This is typical of a Nigerian society but in my view these people aren’t helping the matter as majority of the youth believe in the ‘oil-money-syndrome’.

I cherished the beautiful moments with the community boys during football training, matches and competitions. I participated in the Police Barrack Football Competition of Shapenkwa and unfortunately, I got injured at the semi-final stage and my team were defeated, and I was very sad because in all competitions I have played, I won medals, and never had the luck of the gold. So, I was not happy throughout the day, I also had nice and beautiful moments in the Sports CDS group; we share loves and kindness of brotherhood through weekly trainings and occasional weekend matches with the various community football teams around. My best CDS match was our novelty with Barayida Team which ended in 2:1 win for us. Nigeria is very rich in sports talents, I came across ‘fantabulous’ talented young players in Ogoniland who are community boys. The best I met is Nedu. He plays like Messi; magnetic control of the ball with good results. We have raw talents wasting undiscovered. May God help Nigeria and Africa at large!

In all, it was a service year of purpose and commitment. It was fulfilling and intriguing with sweet memories that will last a lifetime. I give thanks to God for the protection and provisions throughout the 12-months stay. I thank God again for the great people He allowed me to come across, interact with and successfully lived with (with both bitter and sweet memories). I am greatly indebted to my Acting Principal, Mr.Hawkins for his constant motivation and supports at all times. He inspired more, the teaching spirit in me anytime he comes to the staff-room and calls me his number one Corper. I asked him why and he replied (that) I have been the most consistently diligent and hardworking corps member he would have in a long time and because of that, he made me as Corpers Liaison Officer (CLO) of my PPA. Likewise, I am mostly grateful to the Head of Coach of the Rivers State Football team anchored on the Sports CDS, Mr. Freeboy for his supports and great encouragements during trainings and on the field of play.

Lastly, I will not forget to thank my ever gallant, able, amiable, courage and loyal roommate (Mr Lite well known as H.O.D in Nonwa Community) for his kind and support throughout the service year, I really appreciate and may we all meet at the ZENITH

Penultimately, now that the time is up and we are officially off to the labour market, employment and real life struggles, I despair not because God has been faithful to me right from the initial beginning and up till this moment and stage of life. I am only confident that; I can reach the star; I can break the bounds; I just have to try to make a difference; because life is full of hope. May God Almighty reward our sincere services to our dear nation and open doors of great successes, everlasting goodness and fortune for us.

In conclusion, congratulation to us all the 19C1 passing out Corps Members!
We have redefined and project a bright future for our dear country Nigeria; through commitment and dedicated service year.

As we continue in that path, cheers to many successful service to humanity!

Adebayo Mukaila Folohunsho
RV/19C/1109
Ex-RiversKopa
Ex-Director of Sports, Platoon 9
Ex-CLO, Community Secondary School, sime (Tai LGA), RIVERS STATE.


Adebayo Mukaila Folohunsho, is a Researcher||Entrepreneur||Statistician||Activist||Humanitarian||Social Media Influencer||Business Planner||Youth and Leadership Advocate