Ok where do i start . . .

There is a general perception about we Nigerians, about how dubious we are when it comes to material things, most especially money. It is a general saying that the average Nigerian man is a crook and will do anything for money.

This bad generalization about the typical Nigerian has gotten worse over the years, both home and abroad.

We all know that some Nigerians are crooks and could be really dubious, but we also know that there are in deed very good and honest Nigerians all over the world!

This story is really fun, my NYSC experience . . My posting etc etc. The koko of the story is to show that indeed, we have good Nigerians and most especially, Good hausa People!!!!

My Encounter . .

Finished my BSc in Computer Science in 2008 from the University of Lagos. As usual, every graduate feels joy and excitement after graduation, but somehow there is always this bitter taste of NYSC somewhere to spoil the fun. Mine was no exception . .

When NYSC postings came out, i was posted to Borno state . . yes BOKO HARAM state . I immediately got a map, and located the state on it . . I was speechless for over 30 minutes, my eyes turned red and it was as if the world came to an end!!!!

Anyways, i went to Borno state . . had fun in camp and then another posting was around the corner again. All the while i was in camp, i was meant to call a particular woman who was meant to help me get posted to the capital: Maiduguri, but somehow i over enjoyed my self and had fun in camp, and i forgot to call her. BEHOLD, I GOT POSTED TO MONGONU!!!

Mongonu is actually about 4 hours drive from Maiduguri (inside the same state o, imagine that). I got my posting letter, i was posted to “school of fishery, mongonu” . . it was then i called the woman i was to call, then she told me i had to go to where i was posted and get a rejection letter. . .

THIS IS WHERE THE STORY BEGINS . . .

Slept over at a hotel till the next morning, went to the park and boarded a bus to Mongonu . . The journey was just pathetic! long, dusty and dry . . Nothing to view all through the 4 hours, except deserts, empty local govt buildings at intervals, and Cows (i saw plenty of them). .

Before getting to Mongonu, the bus stopped at Kukawa and i saw people coming down, so i came down also . . and the bus left. It was until i asked a corper i spotted about where i was going, before i knew i got down at the wrong place! Mongonu was still one hour away! i almost cried . . I then asked him where to get another bus, he told me i had to wait till 2pm. By then it was still 11am in the morning and i was getting tensed!

i chilled till 2pm and boarded a bus going to Moongonu . . i got to the park (i heard one hausa dude singing Gongo aso, i was shocked!). Took a cab to School of fishery and located who was in charge of NYSC. The moment the guy so me, he could tell i wasnt coming there to accept the posting, so he said “do u want to accept or decline, i av both letters here for you” . . i was so happy and replied him “pls i want to deline”. he said no problem, and even bought me food and a drink.

After everything at the school, it was already around 4 pm in the after noon, and i didnt want to sleep at Mongonu (Maiduguri was 4 hrs away). I got back to the park, and i had to wait for about one hour before i finally told the driver that he shouldnt worry that i was gonna pay for every space in the Peugeot Station wagon. We left around 5:20pm.

it was after the journey started that i noticed that the car had issues with it’s light and stuff . . it was getting dark, so the driver parked, opened the bonnet and hit the head lamps before they came on. by then i was getting worried and shit . . on our way, the light went off twice and we both couldn’t see shit! The second time was so scary, when he managed to park, we were on the other side of the road and a trailer was facing us!!!!!!!!

I almost peed on myself, i had to come down from the vehicle to urinate and throw up!!!!!! yes i was that scared.

Finally we got to Maiduguri and our unsafe journey had ended, i got down and that was it. I took an achaba (hausa name for okada) to the hotel, and behold it was then i remembered: “MY WAIST BAG WAS GONE” . . Ok lemme brief u guys what a waist bag is, almost every corper has a waist bag on camp where u put all ur essentials and stuff. . Mine had everything except my fone! My money, my ATM, My cheque book, id card etc etc . . . Unknown to me, when i got down to pee i unstrapped the waist bag and forgot to strap it back when i got back into the car!!!

I couldnt speak hausa, and the achaba guy kept saying “ba turenchi” meaning i dnt understand english. i had to beg for money from a fellow corper i saw drinking at the bar to pay the achaba guy!

By then my mum started calling me, how she knew i was in trouble, i dnt understand . . I picked up and told her i was fine and nothing was wrong. . I then called the Woman who was to help me get posted, narrated my story and all. she promised to send a guy who could speak both english and hausa. That night was one of my worst nights ever, i dream’t all kinds of dreams, i dream’t that the bag was under the bed, i woke up and actually checked. . lol

That night i actually prayed to God after a long while, i so prayed till i was speaking in tongues . . whether the tongues were real or fake, only God knows. . lol

The following morning was the D – day! the search for my waist bag. The guy came over, asked me for the plate number of the car, i didnt know . . the color of the car, i didnt know, he asked me how the driver looked, and i still didnt know! then he said “only if God wants u to find that bag, thats the only way u will” .

We got to the park, and the guy whose name by the way is Tunde, started asking some of the drivers questions in hausa. we were at the park for up to 3hours, and without even understanding what the drivers were saying, i could tell from the expression on Tunde’s face that; my bag was as good as gone!!!

I mean i had no clue about the car, the driver, etc . . it was impossible for anybody to help us.

Just when we were about to give up and leave, this man approached us and spoke in hausa to Tunde and said “follow me”
we did, and he led us to his car, opened the door and brought out the bag! I WAS SHOCKED TO MY BONES!!!!!!!!!!!
i was more shocked when i opened it and met the money intact to the last. . . everything was inside, except my ID card which was in his hand. .

Apparently the man had been on a search for me with my ID card, all through the day till he saw me at the park with Tunde . . He said he couldn’t sleep at night because he was in custody of someone’s money and property, and that if he didn’t find me and return it that Allah will be angry with him!

I WAS SO MOVED AND SURPRISED AT THE SAME TIME, AND SAID TO MYSELF “WE NEED MORE OF THIS KIND OF PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY”

That’s my story, hope you enjoyed it and hope we can all learn from it also. lets all be like the Good Hausa man, lets all be good Nigerians and someday our country will be good for it. . . A BETTER NIGERIA STARTS WITH YOU, what are u doing about it?


http://tosinadeda./2012/03/27/not-all-nigerians-are-bad-my-nysc-experience/

Nice writeup and God bless that man for his honesty.

OP,
Your idea of rejecting your Primary Assignment to influence it to the State Capital is one of the acts not in favor of making our country any better as the "man know man" syndrome has a more negative effect.

Well you were lucky. I wish I could say the same for my self back in 2008 batch c, wen i was posted to bauchi. It was horrid.God was my saviour. I never want to remember that area (the north) nor my time there. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

excellent write-up. thanks 4 sharing such a positive experience that put Nigeria in the right light.

kombats: hausa are 1 of d most trusted people in 9ja

you are correct to a great extend but with the occurance of boko haram, their image has been badly tainted!

Nice one. Stories like this gives me hope about Nigeria. I've always heard that the average hausaman is not the blood suckin vermin we used to think they are. Well the research still goes on.
BTW my brother who is presently serving in Enugu state called me and told me how he lost his wallet containin 20k,ATM cards,id cards etc. It was a miracle to know that another corper found it,but there was no way to locate my bro. So if checked inside,found a scrap of paper with a phone number which happened to be a friend's number. He called the friend who gave him my brother's number and that was how he found my bro and returned the wallet with everything in it intact. And be4 i conclude,he declined every form of gratitude.
I think there's still hope for Nigeria!

Post modified by handler.

Great story, there are wonderful Nigerians everywhere,North,East, West, South.
I hope to be one of them WHAT ABOUT YOU.
IT IS THE SELFISH POLITICIANS SPOILING THINGS.

@Moneylover,

Are you madt? What's with the pix you posted here?

@OP,

I understand your point you see Nigerians have really made a name for themselves - negatively even we Nigerians trust foreigners more than we trust ourselves but for a muslim man to do this I think it is highly commendable many so called church going christians will do the exact opposite some will even shout "thank God" and even pay tithe with part of the money. So where did you eventually serve, Maiduguri or did you redeploy from the state?

Ufeolorun:
Nice writeup and God bless that man for his honesty.

Amen.
Also may God bless the original poster for sharing his tale.

We need honest people in our country to make Nigeria a better place for all.I commend that Mallam,the driver, and pray Allah will bless him.I pray i will be like him.

Interesting writeup

I was touched
in the story The Hausa man practiced his religion- the religion of peace ISLAM..
However, Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion teaches good acts like this.
Nigeria One Love
Ever patriotic

Aboki's are honest and dangerous

@Tosin - an average Hausa man has no integrity issues, his main weakness is his religious bigotry.

I don't read long stories on NL but I was forced to read yours. I guess writing is your hubby, nice one!

good people...greate nation.

but what if the cash runs in millions?

@poster, i know exactly where you were posted to, i was posted to the same place some years Federal college of fishery and research in Baga under mongonu. O boy that place na hell, I learnt that the place was establish by Buhari govt to prevent Chad fron taken over those part of Nigeria. I spent two weeks there before i run come Lagos. Anyway thank God for your Good experience.

Well my camp director taught me to always find my own comfort zone amidst the chaos. So camp wasn't distasteful like that. However i still consider it a balant waste of time and manpower. Well i also learnt that not all Borno people are Boko's. The southern Borno is where the christian Borno and educated elites live. My friend Tanko is from borno state and he's a catholic along with his friend matthew we were all at Iseyin camp Oyo state. So thats what i learnt in camp.
Religion in general teaches honesty. But even before that good parenting and upbringing taught me to never take whats not mine and should i find it return it to d owner no matter how nice it looks. This stance is only strengthed by religion. Further living by the neighbour's principle of doing unto others what you'd want them to do to you is a golden rule that should guide each and everyone.

crusufixo:


Well you were lucky. I wish I could say the same for my self back in 2008 batch c, wen i was posted to bauchi. It was horrid.God was my saviour. I never want to remember that area (the north) nor my time there. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where were you posted to in Bauchi and what was your experience there?

This is a cool story. Positive things like this happen in our country every day, ive had my own experience during my service year. Its good to Publisisze this kind of acts so that we can all knw there is hope yet for Nigeria.

God bless that driver.
God bless the OP for sharing.
God bless Nigheria.

COOL STORY BRO!
. . . And this is the absolute first time that phrase has a genuine connotation.
Your story was so touching and vivid. Puking and pissing out of fear, the whole Northern experience, praying out of sheer desperation, the man who kept your belongings. Dammit, the whole tale is just a wonderful and nostalgic!
Hope u sha sorted the man nicely o! May God bless good humans irrespective of tribe or religion.

kwaghe: @Tosin - an average Hausa man has no integrity issues, his main weakness is his religious bigotry.

U read my mind precisely. the average hausa man wont lie, steal or cheat. Some will use their last blood to ensure you are safe in your property but the same ones will go blind when it comes to religious tolerance.

God bless the hausa man tho.

@tosinade@, this is what many people don't want to share on nairaland, there are other interesting stories like this in Nigeria, but people prefer the negative news to the positive stories, more of these stories will inspire others to make Nigeria a better place, remember, a little drop of water will eventually become a mighty ocean. God bless you. God2man.

domack99: @poster, i know exactly where you were posted to, i was posted to the same place some years Federal college of fishery and research in Baga under mongonu. O boy that place na hell, I learnt that the place was establish by Buhari govt to prevent Chad fron taken over those part of Nigeria. I spent two weeks there before i run come Lagos. Anyway thank God for your Good experience.

yeah . . the place is so far, i started seeing custom officials at intervals on the road . . i guess its very close to the boundary between Nigeria and chad.

GboyegaD: OP,
Your idea of rejecting your Primary Assignment to influence it to the State Capital is one of the acts not in favor of making our country any better as the "man know man" syndrome has a more negative effect.

yeah right! staying in Maiduguri almost cost me my life . . the yusuf mohammed Boko Haram outbreak, thank God for the SSS and Soldiers. imagine if i was in far away Mongonu with no security! Atleast i didnt lie of having any form of sickness to get posted back to Lagos.

you should consider some things before judging u know. . .

yuzedo: COOL STORY BRO!
. . . And this is the absolute first time that phrase has a genuine connotation.
Your story was so touching and vivid. Puking and pissing out of fear, the whole Northern experience, praying out of sheer desperation, the man who kept your belongings. Dammit, the whole tale is just a wonderful and nostalgic!
Hope u sha sorted the man nicely o! May God bless good humans irrespective of tribe or religion.

Yeah i tried sorting him, buh he refused to take anything . . .

achi4u: good people...greate nation.

but what if the cash runs in millions?

hmmmmmm . . good question! but i am of the opinion that "once u re good, u re good"