Can anyone share their NYSC experience w/ me? i am in the states right now and i want to register and learn as much about it as possible but there are no viable web links.

please help and tell me any thing you know about good/bad experiences, qualifications, and start dates/application deadlines.

thanks!

well, i,m a yoruba gal and i served in imo.if u're serious bout this,i'd be glad to share mine.

Hi chi,
i am a yoruba girl,served in Plateau state.university of jos to be precise.was very interesting.though is usual to face some hazzards.the bottom line is,it gives you the chance to discover who you are and what you can do without people to guide you through.and it gives you the chance to mix with different culture.if i start writing this space wouldn't be enough.

The importance of NYSC is overrated. I was sent to a village in Delta state some years back and the school principal was sooooooooooooooooo greedy, I contemplated doing some bodily damage to him. I didn't do it though. From my experience, your gender and who you know goes a long way in determining if you'll get a cozy primary assignment. The only guy in my camp that studied Petroleum engineering was sent to teach in a school for his primary assignment while all the Jezebels (apologies to whomever is offended by this) with a second class lower and even third class in Religious studies and Yoruba education were assigned to Shell and NNPC. I believe Nigeria wasted 1 year of my youth. If you want to work in Nigeria however, still depending on who you know, you may need it.

Apart from helping you mix with people from other cultures and making friends with numerous people and also maybe "falling in love in camp" ( 2 weeks love)> NYSC is crap, except you have connections you can be posted to a village with no light and water. The question you should ask yourself is, do i intend to work in Nigeria? if you do not, then my dear get ajob or go do your masters. Do you intend to come back and do politics? maybe run for one councillorship post in your village (lol) or run for governor of your state? if you do not then Get a job or do yourr masters. Or do you just want the experience of serving your fatherland? if you want that form of service on a superficial level then come and do it. But if not it's a complete waste of one year of our youth. Especially if you serve in a crappy place.

Absolue waste of time ,ABSOLUTE , the whole NYSC scheme has lost its purpose. I pity the guys forced to go to unfamiliar areas.

In lagos then , it was over-crowded; every evening spent at MAMI mkt , at Guisness stand to be exact, drinking the whole evening, socialising with the beautifull ones from every part of the country,while some where in town dropping resumes at every door step, Anyway, apart from the friends u make, its really does not help your career,however u need the certificate ----at that time , it was going for N30k in ABJ. imagine

Yes,Yes , absolute waste of one year. I got diagnosed with the following diseases after only 3 months in Northern Nigeria- Bronchitis, Typhoid, Malaria, Asthma (Never even knew I was asthma prone till my service year and am almost 28! ).

Under NYSC, some people serve, whilst others are SERVED, if you catch my drift. So it depends on you really, if you can make do with no electricity, red-rust brown water, Scorpions in your bathroom and snakes in your backyard, then sign up legitimately. If not, if you can pull some strings and you'll be posted to some organization that'd give you their guest chalet as corper's accomodation( I visited a LUCKY fellow corper, found out that service had 2 meanings ) and airtime allowance.

Anyway, our POP pix ( took this with my phone! )

thats a nice picture, dargly.

Anyway, I served in 2001. I had the connections "as someone earlier put it" and so I worked my posting to Abuja since that was were I lived with my family. I was also able to work my posting to Fed. Min. Of Women affairs cause I was pregnant during service and wanted a place I would be comfortable. Anyway, I was posted to the child development depertmanet and further to their work place Nursery and creche' behind the police head qtrs in Abuja. I had a very nice time there and I also learnt alot in that day care. I learnt alot about kids and that has helped in shaping me to be the kind of mother I am now. I never really liked kids while growing up, I was kinda spoilt so kids were like competition to me. But going and working in that place opened my eyes to alot of things about children and child handling. I learnt so much about kids, there temperaments, eating habits, learning abilities, thier differences and so much more. I thot it would be a good place to laze and sloth during my service year cause I didnt want stress but am a better person from the experiences I got from that place. When my son came, I could take him to work with me and it was soo nice spending all that time with him.

I know alot of people who had a hard time during thier service year and I feel for them. I thank God mine was not so bad and the experiences from that time has helped till date. It was not a waste of a year for me, it was a very good year for me.

I haven't served yet! And this is my third year out of school! I dont know who's mad at me but my name keeps getting left out everytime it's time 4 camp. I got left out this February again! I should be in camp right now!! It's getting really maddening because originally i planned to get an M.sc in U.k but my now confused parents insisted on me serving my country first. In fact, at a point in time , my father felt I was lieing about being a graduate. Anyhow, i guess I was a little careless because i assumed i didn't have to follow up on my being called to camp. Now I know better!

With what NYSC has turned to it has outlived it's usefullness, imagine somebody that studied petroleum engineering being posted to a primary school, it's supposed to be a time to get experience and serve your fatherland with the expertise you gained from school. I hope to serve this september, I sure hope things turn out good. I studied petroleum engineering if i'm posted to any school to teach i'll elope.

NYSC was fun only because i was able to move from my "town" (actually a hamlet!) to the "city" (really?) in Yola and i got posted to teach some course at the Fed University of Tech, Yola.
NYSC is more like a death sentence, apart from the friends you make and the fact that it's so far from home, you don't gain anything. it drains your money, soul, morale and patriotism. That is when, especially if posted to the north, you realise that we are really 2 different countries forced into one. Everything is completely opposite in the north. Can u imagine a whole state capital without light, water, internet services, GSM (then)? And it's called the state capital?
i can only imagine what those posted to those 15th century 'villages' went through!

NYSC WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME O, dont be deceived, khaki no be leather.

I agree with all those who said and will say that NYSC was a 1-year waste, for me ill put it like this: NYSC is the way the Nigerian government wastes the life of their youth - in a formal way.

NYSC camp, after spending 3/4 of my life abroad, i JJCd into the country, and into NYSC camp. Honestly, ive never had a worse experience. I wasnt myself, throughout the camp experience, i was either having a headache, back/stomach ache. The worst was the shalanga. Wow, ive never seen as much maggots in my whole life put together, I never even imagined myself looking at shit right in my face. I only used the shalanga 2ice, as i had to make do in the bush.

note: (one morning, as i woke up around 4am, i wanted to go ease myself in the bush and lo and behold, a fellow corper(in his vest) and a lady were making out, in cold blood. I couldnt believe it, they were not even startled by my presence, the guy just continued banging as i found somewhere to ease myself.

Dear Chinani, abeg, stay where u are o, forget about nigerias NYSC.

My experience:
- the camp was to resume on a sunday, but i had arrived like friday, hoping to "settle down" but twasnt the case. I slept, woke up, ate and drank, under a tree for two days together with other campers,
- registration was hell, coz even with call-up letter, you still had to part with some dough, that went under the table, i mean "processing fees" that had no receipt.
- then by the time they know you are JJC, which was the greatest mistake I made, you are already in trouble. I couldnt hide the fact, with my accent etc, besides, i didnt know what mami market meant.

too many stories, but too bad, twas a 1-yr waste

NYSC is nothing but a story to be told.

The story goes like this, once upon a time i served in Bayelsa ,

Serving in Nigeria, you gain nothing (in terms of value to yourself), I was sent to teach in a village, by the time I came out of that village,

lost all my contacts, lost my relationship, became so dull after interacting with non-intellectual for so long a time,

still trying to recover. For me it was a waste of 1 year. NYSC is a way that Nigeria employs cheap labour, this is

because they don't want to spend money and train qualified teachers. so they use the rotation method, batch A, batch B

corp go, corp come.

If you want to have a story to tell to your kid and friend, go and serve.

Nuo, ruruma do

@kimba , wat accent was dat, am looking 4ward doing dat just 4 da fun of it.if i get posted 2 da state i don't like, i won't go

From my experience, NYSC can be really boring, but in the long run it all depends on what u make out of the whole boring situation. Its basically an opportunity to meet with people from all works of life, share their views, experiences and culture. Its also an opprotunity to visit a state u haven't been to before.

@hotstepper, aus

@raldsfield, the day when i realized that NYSC was a waste of time was the last day of the camp, when we were released from the camp-cage,

I had been dying to check my email. In fact, it was as if everyone in the whole world had been sending me the most important emails of my life, so the day when we collected our posting letter, i decided to go look for the company and addr the next day, and meanwhile decided to go and finally check my email.

Do you know what, i had forgotten my password. In fact, the yahoo page had been updated and it took me like some 7-10mins, to finally figure out where the email link was on the yahoo.com page. I racked my head for about another 10mins trying to figure out my password. In fact, i had to leave the cafe, in order not to waste the ticket, for a while to get some freshair, because, i just couldnt imagine myself forgetting my email password. I had created it some 10yrs back, It seemed i was totally lost, just 3-weeks in nysc camp and my whole life was gone, whola, Cooling off with a bottle of fanta, twas like another 45mins, as I was thinking about what must have happened to me, i didnt even know when a tear or two dropped out of my eyes, thinking, is this what i bargained for? , later, i remembered that there was the "forgot your password link", thank God anyway, i didnt forget my birthday, wow. what an ordeal.

If you want to join the nigerian civil service, then go for NYSC, but if not, forget it.

@kimba, i guessed u did it for fun if u stayed for 3 weeks( datz if am correct), u studies in AUS(datz if u did) den it should be 4 fun

Like almost everything in Nigeria we need a re-orientation as per NYSC. We must re-appraise and re-evaluate the scheme to fit into the current trends of the 21st century. However i enjoyed my service year-met new people,made new allainces, got engaged to the babe i'll be marrying in June. It was fun. It's an experience worth having, hoping they dont post you to a village away from civilisation.

thanks everyone for replying.

from what i've heard the LADIES usually have positive experiences and MEN, for the most part, have negative ones.

well, i dont want to work in the NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE. i just want to get a chance to be in and live in nigeria. i just graduated from college in Dec. so the world is my oyster and i want to go back to nigeria. oh, I DO SPEAK W/ AN ACCENT. should that matter? will it?

what do you guys think? having done the program, should i, having lived abroad for years, return and do the NYSC? also, i dont know and seriously doubt that i can pull any strings.

abeg, supply me w/ advice. thanks.

If you can't pull any strings and you are not willing to play ball ( if you know what I mean) and since you really do not want to work in the civil service, I beg, mai sista, let am go. You no need am.

I arrived late at the NYSC camp in Lagos, Iyanapaja?. There wasn't my size of uniform left. So I had to make do, wearing the jacket with a pair of jeans. I had a hangover throughout the duration of the orientation due to the serious binging that go on each day. The most memorable was the day we were discharged. I had to go drop a friend in Lagos Island. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn that left me dejected and broke. I had to use the 2000 Naira stipend they just paid me at the camp to release my car.

@chinani. If you want to live and work in Nigeria, then service is important except if youre over 30-i think- or disabled or have done some kind of military service here in Nigeria. Its an experience that you'd live with and learn lessons from whether good or bad. I had a friend who was posted to cross rivers state. This girl is Hausa, Muslim,born and raised in kaduna and had never travelled past Abuja(except to Lagos). She had a terrible experience but you never hear her whine about it. She accepted it as one of those things and will always share the experience with anyone who cares to listen and laugh about it. She made new friends and learnt about the culture there. She fell in love with a guy there and learnt what it felt like to love someone and having to let go of that person cause her people wouldnt have accepted him.

I beleive that nomatter how terrible the experience, its left to the individual concerned to make something good out of it.

NYSC is just a waste of time. I felt like I wasted a year of my life by going for NYSC. However, it is important in getting a job in Nigeria.
My advise, endure for the year and thereafter life continues!!!

How exactly is the NYSC important for getting a job?

Seun:

How exactly is the NYSC important for getting a job?

If you want to work as a young graduate in the private sector (i mean the top companies), you better get your NYSC certificate in place.
It's always a requirement

What if I want to hire a graduate who hasn't completed the NYSC programme? Is there any law that prevents me from doing this?

No law makes it compulsory for you to have a NYSC certificate before employment.
However, top employers request this certificate b/4 employment just as most require a 2-1 degree and above.

i just arrived from the 3 weeks orientation programme yesterday, though the main primary assignment is yet to begin but the orientation has been hell , the drilling was just a rubbish ,because i dont where im going to need it in any area of my life. the sonbies (soldiers) were not merciful at all! the bad thing that happened to me was when the commandant asked me to be front jumping to about 100 metres just because i wanted to go and announced my lost phone.
later it became intresting , especially when we started some othere activities, like cultural dance , drama, sports and we kept knowing eachother in the camp.KOGI camp was an hell , the COMANDANT was the devil! and it was all fun anyway! i miss mammy market!

I served in Warri, Delta State. 6 months into my NYSC, i was hit by a car, broke a leg and had to have an operation. Even though they were supposed to, NYSC didn't pay my hospital bills. After a lot of bureacratic nonsense, they asked me to go to Abuja to make my claim. They didn't even send anyone to the hospital to see me. I was just blessed to have served in a good place; my office paid my bills.

Better experienced than been told. It is fun, great fun. But make sure u give your best no matter where u re posted to.

let somebody pls scrable this program.NYSC is a waste of graduate time,waste of resource and the rest. i am at present a BATCH A 2006 CORPER,serving in imo state.The imo state camp is located in a local village named UMUDI,NWKERRE LOCAL GOVT AREA. My story is a mixed of the UGLY,the BAD and the GOOD. THE UGLY,this is in the camp during orientation,the camp is nothing to write home about,it is dusty, no ligth,no water,on gsm network,nothing at all in the camp .The hostels facilities can not even be compared with nigeria prison,image 120 CORPERS in a ward hall with no ventination not to talk of fan,no toilets in d male hall,all male corpers had to enter bush to throw SHORT PULL.The illitrate soldiers are just like animals in human skin with no human feeling. THE BAD,This happen after the orientation that is during posting.Imo state is a state in nigeria with no job placement for corpers,can u believe a CHEMICAL ENGINEERING graduate posted to MINISTRY OF WOMAN AFFAIR.To do what?. Well as for me i was posted to the best council in the state,but to my supprise i was rejected with 16 other copers because we are not igbo.Life still goes on . THE GOOD The only good thing i have seen about nysc is the ability to meet differents people,see different places and travel out of lagos state for the first time in my 25 YEARS of existing.TO BE FRANK THE UGLY AND THE BAD SUPERCEDES THE GOOD,SO LET SOMEONE SCRABLE DIS PROGRAM SO THAT OUR UNBORN CHILDREN WILL NOT SUFFER THE WAY WE DID.

A lot of people seem to had had nasty experiences during their MYSC. I was thinking of 'serving' my country after graduating this summer. Oh well, wont bother now. I have been out of the country for a while and was thinking of coming back to reeducate myself with the way of life. That will clearly be a waste of time.