One of the activities I took part in (apart from the business plan competition) was the Man O War drills, of which I had missed the opportunity of participating in during my platoon's turn. By the time every the platoons had completed theirs, a new date was announced for spill over individuals and groups to have theirs. The groups included; the OBS, red cross, martial arts, utilities, band and CDS groups.

Since fate was giving me a second opportunity, I made sure I didn't screw it up and went ahead to inform my colleagues about the opportunity. A good number didn't indicate interest in participating as they had already participated with their respective platoons. So this left me with a few number who hadn't done theirs like I. Undaunted with the few number, I looked forward to this infamous rite of passage.

So the day came and when it was time, we were kitted in our khaki and stepped out to the parade ground for tug of war which had begun with some groups already there. While we were still taking pictures amongst ourselves, the Man O War officer called the OBS to come forward for the tug of war match against the SDG CDS group.

Then I started sweating and feeling uneasy

Why I felt this way was because of a guy in the CDS group (their leader actually), was a mountain of a human. This guy is very huge and looked menacing. I guessed he weighed above 250 pounds and when he stepped out with the rest of his colleagues, the whole gathering erupted in excitement to watch this particular match. Even passers by drew near to watch the match.

See as our village people set us up against assistant big show

We assumed our positions and Kele was even gingering us not to fear (as if he wasn't trembling inside ). Left to me, I would've thrown in the towel even before I touched the rope because it was a hopeless cause and I didn't like embarrassment .

We sha did the thing and unsurprisingly, 'Biggie' (sorry, SDG) won us with barely 8 seconds into the tug of war . One of us had the mind to demand a rematch and I was like

One embarrassment never do you ?

Unfortunately, the Man O War chief granted a rematch and we failed more woefully this time than the first leg lmaoooo .
Other groups came and did theirs, then it was time for the girls to represent their groups and do theirs . My hope resurrected, hoping that our girls would redeem our lost image at this parade ground. Because folks were now taunting us for our two losses. My hopes got dashed when I saw their female opponents.

Our village people rigged this one well

Even if half of our guys joined to help the girls, it would have still been a lost cause. This is to tell you the type of Ronda Rousey looking opponents our girls faced.

Long story short, they lost .

After the tug of war ended, we all jogged to the Man O War drills arena where the main obstacles were situated. We got briefed on safety and procedures for going through all the obstacles. And since we were so much in number, we were told everyone can't go through all the obstacles in the limited time we had.
I wasn't even looking forward to kee myself with obstacles so I did what I could comfortably and I still enjoyed it.

Here's the hilarious thing about girls during Man O War drills: when they see the obstacles or how much stress it is to go through them, some of them will feign sudden illness or remember one life threatening injury they had in primary school as excuse not to take part in the drills . Those ones came to take pishures for the gram and go, unfortunately cameras weren't allowed there.

And it's during when folks go through these rigourous obstacles that khakis get torn and mutilated. So I was careful not to let my enemies disgrace me further today . Even with my carefulness, my ID tag holder got torn and my khaki was soiled (well, so did every other persons').

So much for Man O War

At the end, we took pictures and got back to the hostel area. On getting to the studio, some of the rest of our colleagues (who didn't take part in the drills) had converged to mock us for our terrible Tug of War outing.

las las, our village people had the last laugh


pictured below:

Our Man O War drill images (blurred)

DAY 20

With a day to the end of our orientation, activities had reduced so much and camp was more interesting for everyone. Today was even a Sunday and you know what that means, freedom .
There was no important activity throughout this day. Well, apart from the final parade in the evening and debriefing that followed afterwards.
As I mentioned earlier in one of the previous episodes, I skipped service today due to last week's 'seed sowing' experience. So with the whole morning to myself, I remained in the studio with my colleague Usnat, whom was one of my partners in the business plan competition. She suggested towards noontime that we head to the mami and get some of our pictures from the photographer.
We walked down to the mami market and located our platoon cameraman. Then we waited our turn to have the PC to select the pictures we featured in. Uncle cameraman informed us that the price of each soft copy of the picture was 100NGN and 200NGN for the hardcopy.

100NGN per soft copy pishure .

I never felt more exploited in camp than this very moment. We picked very few we featured in, paid and went back to the studio.

By this time, Greg had fully entered Emi's case and it was like a repeat of the Tolu scenario all over again. But since I didn't want to get involved in any of Greg's wahala with women (especially Emi, someone I knew), I prevented him from discussing about her when we were together gisting. The less I knew, the better for all of us abeg.


By now, our PPA posting sturvs had already been confirmed for everyone of us in the OBS, together with AY, Greg and Emi too. So even before we got our posting letters, we knew where we were headed .
Later in the noon, AY and I did our final laundry and put the rest of our things in order for tomorrow's departure. It was kinda an emotional moment for me when I was packing up with AY because I remembered how much we hated it here three weeks ago. Now we're less than 24 hours from getting out and we're wishing we could stay a bit longer to have more moments .

By late afternoon, the final practice ahead of the next day's passing out parade took place. At the end of the practice, the whole camp community convened at the parade ground for the state coordinator debriefing. After lots of talks, advice and information from the coordinator and a bunch of other top officials, we dispersed for the evening.

Remember tonight was our last night in Lagos orientation camp and you can guess how prepared everyone was to turn up for the last time at the mami . Before now, lots of persons, groups and friends had gone to their preferred spots at the mami to book drinks, tables and chops ahead of this evening.
We in the OBS weren't left out as we also made our plans and bookings too, all thanks to Kele the jaiye jaiye planner. Our roomies were also planning theirs and we had made a huge contribution for this night. This made it two places for me to have fun at this evening.

Na enjoyment go wound me today .

At about 7pm, our OBS colleagues started heading to our spot while I was clearing up the studio with those on shift so we could join the rest of the squad soon. Just as we were about to lock up, Mr Math appeared from nowhere and told our DJ and my deputy to head to a hall where the staff were about to have their own turn up and stay there to provide them with public address and music for the rest of the evening.

Just imagine the killjoy this man brought

Unable to do anything, the DJ and my deputy left with equipment they needed and the rest of us locked up and left to join others at mami.

Trust me, we had a ball .

While at it, I sneaked off to the spot my roomies were partying and the atmosphere was already wild with celebration. Turkey brought loads of girls, enough to go round twice for everyone, lol. He also ensured our table had the most assortment of drinks and meat for the evening.

Na for this kain arrangement Turkey dey live up to ein responsibility as room leader and mami senior fellow .

I sat and had a drink and ate enough chicken wings and Ásún my stomach could take before I dashed back to my other spot . There was this table where some boys were balling hard and drawing so much attention to themselves this evening. Well, YOLO .

While the party was going on at every spot at the mami, I was watchful of the time so the bigle doesn't take me unawares. But surprisingly, it still did.
By 10pm (instead of 10:30pm), the bigle went off at the mami and everyone went crazy with annoyance .

I mean this is our last night, can't these guys cut someone some slack?

And the bigle went off 30 minutes earlier than usual so no one moved lol.
Minutes later, the soldiers and Man o war officers stormed the mami and started chasing everyone out. It was a difficult situation this evening as many folks weren't ready to move back to the hostel. Guys and girls were running around in circles to escape the officers, some still clutching their bottles and plates of enjoyment . This continued and the officers started taking the piss and got a lil physical with some stubborn folks.
Seeing that the situation might get ugly, we packed up about two dozen of our untouched drinks and smuggled them in the ongoing chaos back to the studio. Some of our colleagues reconvened at the studio and we continued our mini party there .

Lemme see who wee comman disturb us here

By now, a good number of those in the mami were in the hostel area but they refused to go into their rooms. Instead, they brought their noise, crazy mami noise to disturb the peace of Iyana Ipaja . Boys and girls who were together back at mami continued their frolicking at the hostel dark corners . Some drunk fellas were already puking and with all of these going on, the whole scene almost became uncontrollable.
Almost twenty minutes later, the situation was contained and corpers moved to their respective rooms where they continued with the noise . While we were still in the studio having fun, bottles started falling on the tarred road facing the hostel .
We immediately secured the windows shut and turned off the lights to avoid getting implicated in whatever is going on outside. We learnt that some of the guys who took their bottles upstairs threw them down with the aim to harm the soldiers lurking around, whom some of them manhandled a few of corpers back at the mami to head back to their hostels. We remained calm while watching the confusion until it died down. That didn't stop us from drinking either

When we finished up at the studio, we sneaked back to our rooms and on getting to my room, my roomies were still binge drinking . Some of them were even missing and didn't return that night until the next day .

Even with all these making mouth, I didn't taste any alcohol and no one noticed. Well except for AY, who too stayed sober throughout this night. We bought soda, poured it into a cup and drank from it throughout the evening. Anyone who sees us drinking from our cups will think it's shayo .

By now, the lights had gone off and our bathroom was in a mess that were left untended to by folks . AY and I had to climb several floors up to find a decent bathroom to clean up before we returned to our rooms to retire.

We totally forgot the laundry we did earlier today outside



*Info from a dedicated member of the Ghost Readers Guild (GRG): Reekado Banks is currently in the camp atm for camp blast.

Nice one.

Chain! See as all of una slim

nonye6194:
DAY 20

With a day to the end of our orientation, activities had reduced so much and camp was more interesting for everyone. Today was even a Sunday and you know what that means, freedom .
There was no important activity throughout this day. Well, apart from the final parade in the evening and debriefing that followed afterwards.
As I mentioned earlier in one of the previous episodes, I skipped service today due to last week's 'seed sowing' experience. So with the whole morning to myself, I remained in the studio with my colleague Usnat, whom was one of my partners in the business plan competition. She suggested towards noontime that we head to the mami and get some of our pictures from the photographer.
We walked down to the mami market and located our platoon cameraman. Then we waited our turn to have the PC to select the pictures we featured in. Uncle cameraman informed us that the price of each soft copy of the picture was 100NGN and 200NGN for the hardcopy.

100NGN per soft copy pishure .

I never felt more exploited in camp than this very moment. We picked very few we featured in, paid and went back to the studio.

By this time, Greg had fully entered Emi's case and it was like a repeat of the Tolu scenario all over again. But since I didn't want to get involved in any of Greg's wahala with women (especially Emi, someone I knew), I prevented him from discussing about her when we were together gisting. The less I knew, the better for all of us abeg.


By now, our PPA posting sturvs had already been confirmed for everyone of us in the OBS, together with AY, Greg and Emi too. So even before we got our posting letters, we knew where we were headed .
Later in the noon, AY and I did our final laundry and put the rest of our things in order for tomorrow's departure. It was kinda an emotional moment for me when I was packing up with AY because I remembered how much we hated it here three weeks ago. Now we're less than 24 hours from getting out and we're wishing we could stay a bit longer to have more moments .

By late afternoon, the final practice ahead of the next day's passing out parade took place. At the end of the practice, the whole camp community convened at the parade ground for the state coordinator debriefing. After lots of talks, advice and information from the coordinator and a bunch of other top officials, we dispersed for the evening.

Remember tonight was our last night in Lagos orientation camp and you can guess how prepared everyone was to turn up for the last time at the mami . Before now, lots of persons, groups and friends had gone to their preferred spots at the mami to book drinks, tables and chops ahead of this evening.
We in the OBS weren't left out as we also made our plans and bookings too, all thanks to Kele the jaiye jaiye planner. Our roomies were also planning theirs and we had made a huge contribution for this night. This made it two places for me to have fun at this evening.

Na enjoyment go wound me today .

At about 7pm, our OBS colleagues started heading to our spot while I was clearing up the studio with those on shift so we could join the rest of the squad soon. Just as we were about to lock up, Mr Math appeared from nowhere and told our DJ and my deputy to head to a hall where the staff were about to have their own turn up and stay there to provide them with public address and music for the rest of the evening.

Just imagine the killjoy this man brought

Unable to do anything, the DJ and my deputy left with equipment they needed and the rest of us locked up and left to join others at mami.

Trust me, we had a ball .

While at it, I sneaked off to the spot my roomies were partying and the atmosphere was already wild with celebration. Turkey brought loads of girls, enough to go round twice for everyone, lol. He also ensured our table had the most assortment of drinks and meat for the evening.

Na for this kain arrangement Turkey dey live up to ein responsibility as room leader and mami senior fellow .

I sat and had a drink and ate enough chicken wings and Ásún my stomach could take before I dashed back to my other spot . There was this table where some boys were balling hard and drawing so much attention to themselves this evening. Well, YOLO .

While the party was going on at every spot at the mami, I was watchful of the time so the bigle doesn't take me unawares. But surprisingly, it still did.
By 10pm (instead of 10:30pm), the bigle went off at the mami and everyone went crazy with annoyance .

I mean this is our last night, can't these guys cut someone some slack?

And the bigle went off 30 minutes earlier than usual so no one moved lol.
Minutes later, the soldiers and Man o war officers stormed the mami and started chasing everyone out. It was a difficult situation this evening as many folks weren't ready to move back to the hostel. Guys and girls were running around in circles to escape the officers, some still clutching their bottles and plates of enjoyment . This continued and the officers started taking the piss and got a lil physical with some stubborn folks.
Seeing that the situation might get ugly, we packed up about two dozen of our untouched drinks and smuggled them in the ongoing chaos back to the studio. Some of our colleagues reconvened at the studio and we continued our mini party there .

Lemme see who wee comman disturb us here

By now, a good number of those in the mami were in the hostel area but they refused to go into their rooms. Instead, they brought their noise, crazy mami noise to disturb the peace of Iyana Ipaja . Boys and girls who were together back at mami continued their frolicking at the hostel dark corners . Some drunk fellas were already puking and with all of these going on, the whole scene almost became uncontrollable.
Almost twenty minutes later, the situation was contained and corpers moved to their respective rooms where they continued with the noise . While we were still in the studio having fun, bottles started falling on the tarred road facing the hostel .
We immediately secured the windows shut and turned off the lights to avoid getting implicated in whatever is going on outside. We learnt that some of the guys who took their bottles upstairs threw them down with the aim to harm the soldiers lurking around, whom some of them manhandled a few of corpers back at the mami to head back to their hostels. We remained calm while watching the confusion until it died down. That didn't stop us from drinking either

When we finished up at the studio, we sneaked back to our rooms and on getting to my room, my roomies were still binge drinking . Some of them were even missing and didn't return that night until the next day .

Even with all these making mouth, I didn't taste any alcohol and no one noticed. Well except for AY, who too stayed sober throughout this night. We bought soda, poured it into a cup and drank from it throughout the evening. Anyone who sees us drinking from our cups will think it's shayo .

By now, the lights had gone off and our bathroom was in a mess that were left untended to by folks . AY and I had to climb several floors up to find a decent bathroom to clean up before we returned to our rooms to retire.

We totally forgot the laundry we did earlier today outside



*Info from a dedicated member of the Ghost Readers Guild (GRG): Reekado Banks is currently in the camp atm for camp blast.

Boring camp blast yesterday.

hulk616:
Boring camp blast yesterday.

what went wrong again

This day 20 swt oooh
@Op did ur posting work,i heard it's 50% sure..

nonye6194:



what went wrong again

Unknown artistes with their useless and meaningless songs, comedians were boring, only DJ make sense. But overall 0.5 out of 10

hulk616:

Unknown artistes with their useless and meaningless songs, comedians were boring, only DJ make sense. But overall 0.5 out of 10

Ha bros I don dey suspect you o. All the artistes they brought boring? All comedians boring? Yepa!!!

Our carnival and camp fire today was a scam, very boring , waste of time.

hulk616:
Our carnival and camp fire today was a scam, very boring , waste of time.

Bros e be like say anything for your ends nah scam ooo

emotions1:
Bros e be like say anything for your ends nah scam ooo

ask any corper in Lagos camp now.

hulk616:
ask any corper in Lagos camp now.

I thought Lagos camp is the deal.

emotions1:
I thought Lagos camp is the deal.

I thought so too

emotions1:
Bros e be like say anything for your ends nah scam ooo

I dey suspect say na them the corpers dey make am boring.

sconp:

I dey suspect say na them the corpers dey make am boring.

yeah,it depends on the people around him,some kind faces dey naturally boring,dem no the smile at all.

hulk616:
I thought so too

But sha you fit make things lively for yourself,nah you get your joy

emotions1:
But sha you fit make things lively for yourself,nah you get your joy

but the camp is goddamm boring

hulk616:
but the camp is goddamm boring

oboy nah wahala be that oooo

QuinieR:
This day 20 swt oooh @Op did ur posting work,i heard it's 50% sure..

101%

DAY 21

Today was the end of our camp orientation aka POP day. And what was supposed to be a good day turned out to be the worst I ever had since day one.

I woke up quite earlier than usual to setup for the day's event with my colleagues (as we already agreed), but none of them showed up. I went ahead to carry out the setup alone and towards the end, a few of them came down to assist and we finished up. We proceeded to dismantle speakers and wires used for pubic address system in the hostel area back to the store.

Before now, I had asked Mr Math the essence of dismantling these things since the stream II guys were coming in 8 days later for yet another camp. And this will warrant another task of setting up. Uncle replied rudely, saying I should do as I'm told and ask no questions .
When we finished, it was already dawn so I rushed back to the room to freshen up and moved my mini box to the studio, to make my departure convenient since my room mates would be locking the room (and I didn't have energy to start looking for who has keys to the room when I want to go home).
I went and got breakfast and rushed back to the studio to start clearing things up there with others. When I got to the studio, Mr Math was sending everyone outside on grounds that they could pilfer something and go home .

Folks that have been working for y'all for the past 20 days will suddenly turn around and steal from you. Mr Math had issues honestly

Well, since I didn't have energy to engage him in any war of words, I just let it slide and went ahead to clear the studio up myself.
I mean, it's the last day I'll ever see him, so lemme just tolerate his excesses until noon when we'll depart.


By now, the hostel was alive with activities. A group of guys on the third floor were chanting freedom songs like it was the end of apartheid today . One of my friends in our platoon actually pleaded with kene and I few days back to play Bob Marley's 'Redemption song' for her this morning before we shutdown the studio. Not only did we play it several times, we also played several Lucky Dube freedom songs and boys/girls were singing along happily from their rooms . Everyone was already dressed and packed up for the ceremony to begin so they'll go home. Even the officials too lol.
Today's weather looked dull as the atmosphere was heavily clouded. Many feared that it would rain and ruin today's closing ceremony.
While I was still packing up in the studio, Mr Math came back and started asking what a box was doing in the studio. I was still tryna explain the box situation to him, this uncle opened the studio door and threw the box out!

In my head I was like:

'Oh no, he didn't just do that' .

I was ready to change it for this man right there but he just wasn't worth it and he was still shouting b.s after he threw the box out. I kukuma stepped out and picked my box and headed upstairs. I called AY to bring our room key and I locked mine in with the others.
I came back to the studio to meet Mr Math, removed my OBS tag, gave it to him and told him I'm done. I didn't care hear what he was saying as I walked out because I was seriously pissed. So ignoring him was best option as it would ensure I don't do what was in my mind to him thereby, implicate myself.

*Long before now, Mr Math usually threatened most of (if not all of) us in the OBS of seizing our tags, which automatically eliminates one as a member. The threats got so annoying that one time I told him to take mine if he so wants to. Uncle looked at me and walked away. One time he took a tag of one of us and dismissed the babe. I gave the girl mine to use because she did nothing to him. When Mr Math saw her with a tag, he came to blast me for giving her a tag. Babe didn't do anything to him so I told him that I'll take the issue up to madam.
That was when Mr Math calmed down and returned the tag. And why I returned my tag to him even tho camp was ending today was to absolve myself from any plans of them calling me back to recruit and train the incoming OBS guys in the next batch (as this is the custom; the heads and a few guys return to train their successors). Well, I ain't coming back .
I'm trying to give you guys a picture of who this man is and how much workers like him lord over the small responsibility/job they're given. It's rampant in the civil service from a personal experience: from processing for a national ID card, international passport, voters card, etc. These guys make their position look like they're demi gods. Mr Math over did his and he wasn't even the boss of us, that's what made sh-t more annoying.

Back to today:

So I got back to tent where everyone had settled down for the ceremony to begin. Instead of going to OBS stand to take a seat, I found a space among platoon folks and sat with them. Few of my colleagues who saw me come out noticed what happened and came to ask what's up and I told them what happened.
By this time, it had started raining and as time passed, it slowly turned intoto a downpour. Mr Math, our madam and the rest of the staff in our unit were now shouting at the rest of the OBS guys to hurry and cover up the speakers exposed to the rain. Somehow, the madam noticed where I sat and gestured why I was still sitting down, I stood up and walked away from there to a tecno mobile stand far away from the ceremony grounds, while madam and Mr Math looked on.

When few of my colleagues who were with me saw my action, they followed suit and followed me lol. Mr Math and the few of my colleagues who didnt know what was happening had to do the job themselves and at the end, they were all drenched.


Serves Math well.


Since today was our last day, a pass out parade by folks who took part in the inter platoon parade competition was supposed to take place. Today was supposed to be the day they show results of all the practices they've been having right from the beginning of camp.
But with the ongoing downpour, these guys went back to the tents and took their seats.

Under the sun and under the rain my ass

When it was time for the parade to begin, the respective platoon military instructors went under the tents chasing their guys out (whom they've recognised overtime). They refused to come out .

These soldiers wanted these guys to march irrespective of the wicked rain that was pouring .

The state coordinator and the Governor's representative immediately intervened and they left these guys alone. And that was how we didn't have any pass out parade in Lagos Batch B camp. After all the practices and etc, nothing happened .

Same with the martial arts guys who were supposed to perform too. But who wan do Kung fu under rain and catch cold later for house .

So the time for awards came and our platoon leader won the most outstanding corper in our batch's camp (I attached a picture of his congratulatory letter, minus the money ). This was making it the third prize this guy had won in camp. Others were;

-1st runner up for the camp Idol
-1st place Mr Macho

Aside this, he lead our platoon to end up as;

-A runner up in Miss Petite competition
-Winner of cowbell female volleyball competition
-First place in SAED hands-on finals
-Second runner up in indomie comedy competition
-One of the runner ups in dance competition
-best platoon in camp
-One of the finalists in Diamond bank business plan competition
-etc


Osheeeeeeeeeey platoon one things

When he was called out to receive his prize, I fumbled through my pouch for my phone to capture the moment. That was when I realised that my phone was missing .

Have you ever felt for your phone in your pockets and couldn't find it? That mini heart attack you get was what I was experiencing at this moment.

I was so confused and frustrated as I didn't know how it got misplaced and I knew that the first place I'll have to start my search for it was the OBS studio I was not part of anymore.
It kinda sounded stupid going back there but I didn't have a better alternative. By now, most of my former colleagues were reassuring me it's not lost and others were busy dialing the phone numbers.

Here's the thing with me and phones, I use two of em. One data phone and the other for calls/messages. The data phone has always been on silent mode from day I purchased it, since I don't expect any calls from it. And it was the one missing. So the hope of it ringing out for us to find was already ruled out.

Shamelessly, I walked back to the studio and met Mr Math who thought I came to apologise to him . I told him about my plight and he allowed me to search the studio while he watched.

Imagine if I changed it for him back then, he wouldn't have even let me into the studio anymore.

I didn't spend much time searching since I was uncomfortable being in the same space with him, someone I now so much desolated than before.
I finished but couldn't didn't find the phone in the studio so I left. While I was walking out, uncle wanted to talk about my box he threw out, I told him I didn't have such time since my phone is missing.

My last hope was the room where I dropped my box after leaving the studio earlier. I had a strong conviction that it couldn't be there but there's no harm in searching right? I got keys from AY and got upstairs to search for the phone. The police security whom I met at the entrance didn't allow me passage at first but later did after much pleading. On opening the room, I saw the phone lying on my bed like nothing happened .

At that moment, I had this huge relief I haven't experienced in a long while . I took the phone and texted my concerned colleagues about the good news and laid back on my bed after locking myself inside the room. I stayed inside the room until I noticed folks had started coming back to the hostel, signalling that the event had come to a close. Every item on the programme was rushed because of the rain and some items weren't even checked.
My roommates returned with their posting letters and I had to rush to the tent to get mine from my platoon inspector. When I got there, they had already called my number and moved on, and won't come back until they reach the end and start all over again .

While I waited as others got theirs, I saw how many reacted to the places they were posted to. Some got places they weren't happy with, some were overjoyed with their posting, while some were already asking the Lagos landlords where their PPA was located and how to get there . After some time, I got mine and it was exactly the firm I submitted to be posted to .

I got back to the hostel and met AY who was waiting for me, he also got his choice firm . We exchanged contacts with the rest of of roomies and bided each other adios. I then began the stress of looking for Emi whom was posted to same firm as I. We already had plans to visit the firm and submit our letters today since it was in Ikeja and close to the camp. I spent almost an hour looking for her because her phone went bad and she didn't have any means of contacting me. When I finally found her, uncle Greg was with her

Greg in the past few days had stepped up pressure on Emi about taking him serious. But Emi wanted to use the poor boy's head and since I wanted to see how this one would pan out, so I didn't interfere . Emi already told me before now that she had something important to discuss with me about Greg but time wasn't on our side in the days that preceded. But since we were going to end up in the same PPA, I didn't hurry to hear the gist.
So when I finally found Emi with Greg, she jokingly said I should take Greg away from her, that she wants to go home and Greg replied saying he wants to follow her . I told him;

'Ogbeni, kilode? Don't you have a PPA to report to? Abi na woman carry you come NYSC?

My guy replied saying:

'Omo Igbo, something must kill a man '.

We eventually got rid of him and left the camp premises and chartered a taxi to our PPA.

FREEDOM never tasted better .

For a moment, I was glad the day was turning from sh-t for better and I looked forward to sorting our acceptance processes at the PPA so we can go back to our respective homes and take a well deserved rest.
We got to the firm, got through security and went to the reception. We greeted the receptionists and stated the purpose of our visit while showing our posting letters. These guys replied us almost immediately and rudely that their firm does not accept corp members .

Since our posting here was all based on connect, we just made calls and the receptionists were contacted from inside. After waiting for almost two hours, one of the receptionists returned to repeat his earlier statement. We got a call almost immediately from our connect apologising for the inconvenience, while promising to get us a better PPA in a few days.

Disappointed, frustrated and angry, Emi and I went through the stress of carrying our luggage back to our respective homes. I got in a little past 9pm due to the huge traffic we met along Oshodi.

When I got home, I decided to forget all that had gone down today and take my rest. And that was exactly what I did.

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE END OF MY CAMP TALE BUT THE POST CAMP EXPERIENCE IS SOMETHING I'M WILLING TO SHARE TOO SINCE IT'S WORTH THE READ. I JUST NEED TO KNOW Y'ALL ARE FOLLOWING THE DIARY UP TILL NOW BY HITTING THE LIKE OR SHARE BUTTON .

*That includes you distinguished members of Ghost Readers Association (G.R.A), Nigeria Chapter .

Nice one, your platoon leader really did well.

I and people like Mr Maths don't blend at all. The moment you start putting up certain unsavoury attitude, I would just take a walk.

The part where your connect failed shock me o, after all the initial confirmation

Mehn to lose your phone is just

Thank God you've found it ooo.
This Mr Math needs make them change for am,which kind shitness be that.

Me waiting for the post experience like..

Been following since day 1, curious to know how you solved the PPA ish, people like Mr. Maths are littered across all spheres of life, smh.

wehdon bro

Urgently needed!!! A media company in Lekki, Lagos is in need of Female Coppers to work as a presenter, content developer (Pay is more than NYSC Allowance). DM for more Info. RT to help a sister @Gidi_Traffic @Great_blogging #contentdeveloper #presenter

I'M HERE.

POST CAMP DIARY

I woke up quite late in the day after I came home from camp and narrated the PPA rejection experience to my folks. Everyone wasn't happy that I couldn't use my OBS free pass (to getting any firm I wanted to serve in) well.

But hey, it wasn't my fault


Before I choose the firm, Emi and I were specifically given assurance by the head of Engineers, Ikeja branch that we'll be accepted to serve there. Now everything has gone up in flames, he was apologising and promised to make new connects for another PPAs for us. I didn't blamed him much, instead we just had to wait and hope things turn out well and on time.
To make our situation more difficult, the firm that rejected us refused to issue us a rejection letter, which is supposed to be the norm if an organisation (where NYSC posts a corper to) rejects the corper.
Their reasons for the refusal was that they didn't request for a corper from NYSC and NYSC had long ago stopped posting corpers to their organisation, probably in line with the bill former president GEJ signed into law. Even with all the pleading and calls we made, the rejection letter wasn't still issued to us.
This marked the beginning of my challenges after leaving camp. It was a huge problem because no one at the LGA would pay attention to any corper without a rejection/acceptance letter. So while we were waiting for a new PPA from our connect, we started visiting our LGA regularly to complain of our predicament to the LGI, who's in charge of the LGA. Meeting the LGI was a real problem because he was rarely on seat, due to his involvement in the camp that opened for batch B, stream II guys a few days back. On the fourth trial visit, we finally met him.
Uncle told us to go back and explain the importance of the rejection letter to the firm and ensure we get it to start our reposting process immediately. Because even if we get another firm that's willing to take us in, we'll still need to get proof of rejection from the previous one before NYSC approves the new firm .

Taking his advice, we went back to the firm to relay what our LGI said to us. That didn't change a thing as the HR maintained their earlier stance . Emi was already having a migraine and I was worn out from the futile responses we got at both ends. With no head way, we left and went back to our respective homes.

We called the LGI and related what happened with the firm the next day and a long thought, he said we should come and apply for reposting at the LGA the next day. We thought against doing this because we haven't gotten new firms to work in yet from our connect. And we hoped that we can soon so we could get request letters from the firms and submit when we want to apply for reposting.
Because if you were rejected and you apply for reposting, there's a 99℅ chance you'll end up in a school or PPA that wouldn't pay. The remaining 1% means you would remain without getting reposted because there are no places to post you to.

Lemme even burst your bubble for a bit:

While in camp, you'll hear about rejection from a PPA and you'll think it's the worst thing that can happen to a corper. It isn't, rejection is so normalised here because a good percentage of folks in every batch get rejected from their PPA, just a few got accepted. Some even get posted to firms that have folded up, don't exist or are mere shops (like the one below) .
One of my OBS colleagues was posted to Ikeja electric alongside four others. They were made to undergo tests and interview and just he and one other guy made it through. On the day they were supposed to come and pick up their acceptance letters, they got rejection letters instead .
The firm's reason was that they didn't have any space for them in the firm .

You didn't have space and yet subjected these guys to a test and interviews like sey na full time job something. At the end you spew such b.s as excuse and issue rejection .

We're so screwed in this country. Because it's so obvious that these guys have been replaced with another guys with connect in the firm. Yeye


So while we visited the LGA, we met a bunch of folks with cases that made ours look like it's nothing. And nysc don't give a F about where you get posted to after you leave camp. No one has your time anymore, you sort your thing yourself. Only a few get lucky, usually the professional course graduates and those who don't mind where they're posted to serve. It's really a jungle out here.

AY kept on checking up on me regularly after he learnt about my situation. Most of my OBS colleagues got accepted except for about 4 of us who were unlucky. We all kept in contact with each other, sharing openings for placement in several adverts found online.
I even went back to my LinkedIn account and dusted it up to date with my résumé and upgraded to premium account (that costed me almost 12k ). I joined several groups on WhatsApp and telegram, all in a bid to get a PPA. The struggle was real men .

Greg on his own side had already begun his acceptance process with FAAN which seemed like a herculean task. The strict conditions FAAN gave those posted there made more than half of them to quit the PPA, as he told me.
Part of the conditions (according to Greg) was that they won't be paid for about 4-6 months, as this would be considered a 'probationary period'. Also, they will have to get a FAAN staff to guarantee their acceptance of the payment (and other strict) conditions. And the FAAN guys were charging the corpers to be their guarantor .


You see why I said we're screwed in this country .

I didn't blame those who bailed on FAAN for another option because I couldn't even hold up that kinda agreement. But Greg, as stubborn as he was, was willing to go through fire and ice to serve in FAAN for a reason I couldn't understand yet. He even told me about a very cool flat he was considering to rent which costs 450k/annum. He said he wanted to get it as Emi would stay with him in Ikeja since we're all under the same LGA.

This guy didn't understand our situation with our PPA and he wants to buy market

For Tola, after we spoke and thrashed out her issue with Greg back in camp, we never got the chance to talk much again. Although we spoke briefly on my birthday and that was just about it. Till this moment, I never asked nor had her contact.

I dull die


below are samples of acceptance and rejection letters

So the next week came and our connect got a firm in Oba Akran area of Ikeja with a condition that they needed (according to him) only a 'female' to fill the position they were offering. That meant only Emi could take this offer, leaving me out.
Emi didn't seem to be interested in the offer because she had before now been working on a different connect with a firm on the island that had fixed a day for her to come and pick up a request letter. She told me about the firm but I wasn't interested cos the firm was in Ajah and I was looking at the distance and what it'll demand from me if I get accepted. So Emi refused the 'female only' role to the annoyance of our connect who felt his efforts was for nothing, even though Emi explained her reason to him.
Few days passed by and our connect stopped being in communication with us as before but we weren't even bothered, I guessed it was because of Emi's snub. Emi even got another intel for a firm seeking for corpers in VI for me and it took a lot of conviction for me to go there and submit my CV. When I got there, I was actually impressed with the firm and was already imagining how I'd fit in the firm and all, lol. I later got to find out that the firm was a conglomerate of companies raking real dough from the oil and gas business.
That same day, I got a call from my mentor in the evening about a firm he's secured for me and all I needed was to contact the HR and fix a day to pick up the request letter, as everything had been sorted for me ahead of my visit sef. I called the contact he forwarded to me immediately and before I knew what was happening, an appointment was scheduled the next day to get the request letter from the firm by 10am.

See double surprise in one day .

The next day, I got the request letter and applied for reposting at the Ikeja secretariat immediately. Although Emi and I met a challenge with the nysc staff who refused our applications on grounds that we didn't have a rejection letter as compulsory for a rejected corper applying for reposting.

Who be these ones again

It took the intervention of the LGI to finally submit the applications and even at that, uncle had to call our former PPA HR to confirm we actually got rejected and why they didn't issue us a rejection letter.
So after our applications was acknowledged, we were told to go home and wait a few days, checking our dashboard regularly on the portal for the new reposting letter to our new PPA.

*Deep down, I thought the V.I firm would call me before I applied for this other firm but they didn't. And since I didn't know if they would even call or when they would, I had to apply for reposting with what I had.
After all a wise man said 'a bird at hand is better than a million in the bush '.
But I still didn't lose hope tho, because I can apply for another reposting, although that could imply a query from NYSC if there's no legit reason for it.

After a few days, Emi got her reposting letter to her new PPA, I didn't . I thought since Emi applied a day before me, that mine will come the next day.

Boy was I wrong!

A few days passed, then few days slipped into a week and before I knew it, August was rounding up and my reposting letter hadn't appeared on my dashboard yet.

Village people eh

Of course I panicked because September was in a few days and that meant time for monthly clearance.

For those who dunno; in the beginning of every month (first week), every corper gets a letter from their PPA and submits it alongside other clearance forms (maybe from CDS group) to their LGA for that month's clearance. The clearance ends with a thumb printing which marks you present to receive your monthly allawee.
Since my reposting hadn't been successful yet, I was worried I can't be cleared for the month and I had to contact someone for help.

I called the Ikeja LGI and told him about my predicament and he said for our first clearance, we don't need any document or even PPA. Just our ID cards for identification, we do our thumbprint and C'est fini . Then from the next month onwards, we have to be submitting all the necessary documents for clearance.
I was relieved with his reply and I used the opportunity to complain about my reposting delay, he said I should come and clear fez next month and meet him afterwards that day.
September approached and I went to the secretariat for the clearance. Before I continue, lemme paint a lil picture of what clearance is like at my LGA:

You arrive the LGA and proceed to the hall used for the clearance. Outside the hall is an area littered with thousands of office files each enclosed in a clear bag, which belongs to each corp member under that LGA. As a corper, you go through the stress of locating your file and when you do, you take it out and attach the month's documents and proceed into the hall for verification of documents and thumb printing. This could take 2-5 hours, depending on how lucky or unlucky you are the day you go.

After I finished my clearance, I tried to meet the LGI and complain as he told me to but uncle was just over busy for everyone that wanted to meet him. You cannot even address this uncle without being fully kitted, well it's the norm in every LGA , but I was prepared for him today.
When I finally got his attention, he didn't recall our conversation of few days back, so I had to narrate my issue all over again for him . At the end, he just said I should go home and keep checking, that it'll eventually pop up. Believing his words, I went home without any further questions.

Back home, my folks were a bit worried about my reposting delay. They felt something was wrong but I reassured them with what the LGI told me. That didn't stop my parents from calling in to checkup on the dashboard status everyday .

I had informed my new PPA that I'd be resuming work on the second week of September, which was next week. I actually gave the date hoping the reposting letter would be out by then and I would've sorted everything with the reposting thingy. But now it's being stalled, that meant I had to resume without a reposting letter. I still prayed the sturvs would be sorted before my resumption date, all to no avail.


Pictured below:

The VI firm's entrance

The reception of the second firm while I waited to receive my request letter

guy that FAAN thing is so screwed,going to that office everyday is crazy for me i swear,which dept greg dey

nonye6194:
POST CAMP DIARY

I woke up quite late in the day after I came home from camp and narrated the PPA rejection experience to my folks. Everyone wasn't happy that I couldn't use my OBS free pass (to getting any firm I wanted to serve in) well.

But hey, it wasn't my fault


Before I choose the firm, Emi and I were specifically given assurance by the head of Engineers, Ikeja branch that we'll be accepted to serve there. Now everything has gone up in flames, he was apologising and promised to make new connects for another PPAs for us. I didn't blamed him much, instead we just had to wait and hope things turn out well and on time.
To make our situation more difficult, the firm that rejected us refused to issue us a rejection letter, which is supposed to be the norm if an organisation (where NYSC posts a corper to) rejects the corper.
Their reasons for the refusal was that they didn't request for a corper from NYSC and NYSC had long ago stopped posting corpers to their organisation, probably in line with the bill former president GEJ signed into law. Even with all the pleading and calls we made, the rejection letter wasn't still issued to us.
This marked the beginning of my challenges after leaving camp. It was a huge problem because no one at the LGA would pay attention to any corper without a rejection/acceptance letter. So while we were waiting for a new PPA from our connect, we started visiting our LGA regularly to complain of our predicament to the LGI, who's in charge of the LGA. Meeting the LGI was a real problem because he was rarely on seat, due to his involvement in the camp that opened for batch B, stream II guys a few days back. On the fourth trial visit, we finally met him.
Uncle told us to go back and explain the importance of the rejection letter to the firm and ensure we get it to start our reposting process immediately. Because even if we get another firm that's willing to take us in, we'll still need to get proof of rejection from the previous one before NYSC approves the new firm .

Taking his advice, we went back to the firm to relay what our LGI said to us. That didn't change a thing as the HR maintained their earlier stance . Emi was already having a migraine and I was worn out from the futile responses we got at both ends. With no head way, we left and went back to our respective homes.

We called the LGI and related what happened with the firm the next day and a long thought, he said we should come and apply for reposting at the LGA the next day. We thought against doing this because we haven't gotten new firms to work in yet from our connect. And we hoped that we can soon so we could get request letters from the firms and submit when we want to apply for reposting.
Because if you were rejected and you apply for reposting, there's a 99℅ chance you'll end up in a school or PPA that wouldn't pay. The remaining 1% means you would remain without getting reposted because there are no places to post you to.

Lemme even burst your bubble for a bit:

While in camp, you'll hear about rejection from a PPA and you'll think it's the worst thing that can happen to a corper. It isn't, rejection is so normalised here because a good percentage of folks in every batch get rejected from their PPA, just a few got accepted. Some even get posted to firms that have folded up, don't exist or are mere shops (like the one below) .
One of my OBS colleagues was posted to Ikeja electric alongside four others. They were made to undergo tests and interview and just he and one other guy made it through. On the day they were supposed to come and pick up their acceptance letters, they got rejection letters instead .
The firm's reason was that they didn't have any space for them in the firm .

You didn't have space and yet subjected these guys to a test and interviews like sey na full time job something. At the end you spew such b.s as excuse and issue rejection .

We're so screwed in this country. Because it's so obvious that these guys have been replaced with another guys with connect in the firm. Yeye


So while we visited the LGA, we met a bunch of folks with cases that made ours look like it's nothing. And nysc don't give a F about where you get posted to after you leave camp. No one has your time anymore, you sort your thing yourself. Only a few get lucky, usually the professional course graduates and those who don't mind where they're posted to serve. It's really a jungle out here.

AY kept on checking up on me regularly after he learnt about my situation. Most of my OBS colleagues got accepted except for about 4 of us who were unlucky. We all kept in contact with each other, sharing openings for placement in several adverts found online.
I even went back to my LinkedIn account and dusted it up to date with my résumé and upgraded to premium account (that costed me almost 12k ). I joined several groups on WhatsApp and telegram, all in a bid to get a PPA. The struggle was real men .

Greg on his own side had already begun his acceptance process with FAAN which seemed like a herculean task. The strict conditions FAAN gave those posted there made more than half of them to quit the PPA, as he told me.
Part of the conditions (according to Greg) was that they won't be paid for about 4-6 months, as this would be considered a 'probationary period'. Also, they will have to get a FAAN staff to guarantee their acceptance of the payment (and other strict) conditions. And the FAAN guys were charging the corpers to be their guarantor .


You see why I said we're screwed in this country .

I didn't blame those who bailed on FAAN for another option because I couldn't even hold up that kinda agreement. But Greg, as stubborn as he was, was willing to go through fire and ice to serve in FAAN for a reason I couldn't understand yet. He even told me about a very cool flat he was considering to rent which costs 450k/annum. He said he wanted to get it as Emi would stay with him in Ikeja since we're all under the same LGA.

This guy didn't understand our situation with our PPA and he wants to buy market

For Tola, after we spoke and thrashed out her issue with Greg back in camp, we never got the chance to talk much again. Although we spoke briefly on my birthday and that was just about it. Till this moment, I never asked nor had her contact.

I dull die


below are samples of acceptance and rejection letters

I was also working my PPA to FAAN too but my connect which is the director of HR told me they were not accepting corpers at the moment. And I m PPAless now for one week after leaving camp.

And in FAAN the corpers that get paid are those that came early like January time and has very strong connection. Apart from that you will go 10 months even the whole service without salary.

wont advice my enemy to workhis or her posting to FAAN even with strong connection.them fit still looseguard you