 |
| Photo credits:The Nation |
NOTA BENE (NB): This piece was compiled to educate the prospective Corps Members and any other interested party on what to expect in and outside the NYSC Camp.
You can share with your friends too. Let's go!
MIND PREPARATION
You need to prepare your mind that you are leaving home for a regimented life in the camp. Life in the camp is deliberately made stressful so as to prepare you for any challenge that may confront you outside the camp.
Sincerely, you will not find it too comfortable. It's a camp and not your flat! Just be ready for anything.
ITEMS YOU NEED
1. Very Important Ones
a. Statement of Result
b. School ID Card
c. Passport photographs (30 is okay because the 24 I took along finished. Surplus is better than inadequacy)
d. Call-Up Letter (Don't laminate it please, please don't!)
e. A Clear Bag file (To house the above items)
f. Most importantly, your Bible.
NB: Get 10 photocopies each of items A,B, and D above. The copies may be surplus but it is better.
2. Important Ones (For your Convenience)
a. Stapler, pin and office gum (will save you the stress of 'borrow-me')
b. Two or three white T-shirts and shorts (You will be given two sets but you may not like the quality.)
c. Two or three pairs of socks and a white rubber tennis shoe (wash-and-wear type as we are in the wet season).
d. Bathroom slippers
e. Dettol (not compulsory)
f. Two plastic buckets (You can buy it in the camp but it will be costlier) and a permanent marker.
g. Sponge and its case, bath soap and detergent
h. Bedsheet, towel and wrapper and two pairs of casual wear. Just have it.
i. Mosquito Net (not compulsory)
j. Handkerchiefs (very important)
k. Waist bag (very very important for housing your phones,ID Cards,Handky,biros,etc)
l. Novels
m. Small-sized Torchlight/Rechargeable lamp (small one please)
n. Your ATM card(s)
o. Cooler (not a party cooler please) cup and spoon. The fork is not allowed
p. Phone and charger
q. Beverages and a loaf (just for quick refreshment)
r. Ladies could add any other few conveniences. I believe you understand me
t. Money! Money! Money! Hold good cash please depending on how you spend.
GO EARLY!
Even if the camp is on your street, go early. If you are posted to a far state, go the day before the camp opens. They will allow you in. Going late will make you go through registration stress. I was a victim, be warned!
SCREENING
It starts at the gate. They don't want you to bring in prohibited items like iron, knives, bombs, etc.
REGISTRATION
The first one is for hostel/bed space and then the paper registrations proper. Make everything ready. Look out for information posted on walls. Follow instructions strictly.
YOUR KITS
During the registration, you will get your kits -- shirts, shorts, etc. Use the marker to write your Code Number (CN) on them 'sharp-sharp'.
You will also be given a tag that will show your CN. That will be your ID card temporarily. You take it EVERYWHERE on camp. You will be given a meal ticket. Misplace it and forget about NYSC food.
DURATION
You will be in the camp for 20 full days. The 21st day is the day you will leave camp.
THERE YOU GO!
Immediately you have your kits, only your T-shirt and shorts with the tennis shoe are allowed on you. No room for casual wears. Parade/marching training starts immediately. The soldiers will not give you breathing space at all. You will have the first one that same Day One. Watch out, people could be fainting on the Parade Ground. You won't faint, calm down. So eat well. It's the stress that causes fainting. Don't form superman, eat!
YOUR MORNINGS
A small trumpet wakes you at 5am. Everybody gathers at the Parade Ground (PG) at 5:30am.
You have your praise, worship and prayer the Christian and Muslim ways.till the day breaks finally.
Breakfast follows!
After eating, you will be called out again for the series of programmes lined up for you. Then you have your lunch. Rest a little and you are out again for evening parade. This will later be followed by your dinner. This will repeat itself every day perhaps except on Sunday.
THE FOOD
You may not like the food. You can always go to the Mammy Market(MM) i.e. the Camp Market to fill your 'tank' with delicacies at your cost.
STEALING
This is 'legalised'. They can steal anything. Be wise.
THE SOLDIERS
Hmmm. Obey them, please. They can punish you. No walking, it's all jogging when they call you. Don't prostrate or kneel down greeting a soldier. Do it the soldier way. They could be friendly anyway. Be wise.
ALLOWEE
Your first allowance will be given to you in the camp cash. All other ones will be through the bank. You will get Bicycle Allowance first. Manage and keep your cash well. Be wise.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographers are ready to snap you every minute. Manage your cash.
FELLOWSHIP
After your physical strength is drained, you need to refresh yourself in God's presence. Identify with the Corpers' Fellowship. It's God or nothing. I'll tell you more. Ride on.
RELATIONSHIP AND SEX MATTERS
This section is 'over-important'. I have written a different note on this.It will be shared on this space,here in Inside Lekki Ajah. Read it.
SPORT LOVERS
Footballers, go with your kit. Simple!
NOW, YOU ARE ABOUT GOING OUT OF THE CAMP
YOUR POSTING
You will be posted from the camp to where to work. The place to work in is called your Place of Primary Assignment (PPA). Hear this: most Corpers, I mean about 90% of the Corpers will be posted to schools (especially primary and secondary schools). Only VERY FEW will be posted to the universities, polytechnics and Colleges.
Medical students will CERTAINLY be posted to Govt Health Centres and Hospitals. That is certain.
Please! Don't lobby for your posting. Don't pay ANYBODY for assistance. Pray rather than pay.
Gone are the days when Corps Members are posted to Banks and Co. Receive the shocking or expected postings as you receive your letters with joy. It's a clarion call to service; that's what we call it.
GOING OUT: TRANSPORTATION
When you get your Posting Letter, the first place to go to is your PPA. If you identified with the Fellowship in camp, you may first report at the TEMPORARY lodge they will provide. Then you could report at your PPA later same day or the following day.
Please, when you leave the camp, home-sweet-home will be on your mind, having been used up in the camp. But please, don't go home straight. Please!
Very few of your employers (i.e. PPAs) will send down vehicles to convey you from the camp to their workplaces. Private and some Govt higher education institutions do. The Fellowship too make arrangement for you at your cost. Commercial transporters will likely be available at the gate too. I went with the Fellowship arrangement anyway. Be wise.
ACCOMMODATION
You don't know anybody in Damaturu or Ekiti! Where will you sleep on the first day? Relax. The Fellowship may give you a TEMPORARY accommodation pending the time you will HAVE TO GET YOURS.
You could be lucky if your employer gives you a room. Many of them don't give Corpers accommodation anyway. So be prepared to rent one at your cost. Your first 'allowee' which you received in the camp is already going down!
REGISTRATIONS
This is why you don't have to go home straight. Your registration at the NYSC Office in the Local Govt you will be posted to is important. Failure to complete it before going home is the beginning of a Corper's cup of tea. He may begin to have problems with his subsequent monthly allowances. I'm speaking from an indirect experience now. Do all registrations first. Then you can take permission to go home. Permission to go home? Long process! You will soon know why it's so.
SETTLING DOWN
Now, your body don come down. You have finished all registrations and you are now in your room. The television is there, the generator or PHCN is working, the kitchen is loaded! Haha, no be so oo.
Well, you will be fine in Jesus' name. Know your environment. Be vigilant too. You are new so calm down. Don't be a busybody. Don't go where you weren't invited to. Take a walk during the day and not in the night. Be wise. I know you know!
I can't tell you all. Some things are better experienced than being narrated.
But be sure God is with you always. Don't forsake him at all and He won't leave you. He says, 'When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One...'. But that is if you walk orderly before Him. Be wise.
Congratulations and safe journey as you travel by road or by air to your camp.
Written by Anani Sunday.
08029299709
NOTA BENE (NB): This piece was compiled to educate the prospective Corps Members and any other interested party on what to expect in and outside the NYSC Camp.
MIND PREPARATION
You need to prepare your mind that you are leaving home for a regimented life in the camp. Life in the camp is deliberately made stressful so as to prepare you for any challenge that may confront you outside the camp.
Sincerely, you will not find it too comfortable. It's a camp and not your flat! Just be ready for anything.
Sincerely, you will not find it too comfortable. It's a camp and not your flat! Just be ready for anything.
ITEMS YOU NEED
1. Very Important Ones
a. Statement of Result
b. School ID Card
c. Passport photographs (30 is okay because the 24 I took along finished. Surplus is better than inadequacy)
d. Call-Up Letter (Don't laminate it please, please don't!)
e. A Clear Bag file (To house the above items)
f. Most importantly, your Bible.
NB: Get 10 photocopies each of items A,B, and D above. The copies may be surplus but it is better.
2. Important Ones (For your Convenience)
a. Stapler, pin and office gum (will save you the stress of 'borrow-me')
b. Two or three white T-shirts and shorts (You will be given two sets but you may not like the quality.)
c. Two or three pairs of socks and a white rubber tennis shoe (wash-and-wear type as we are in the wet season).
d. Bathroom slippers
e. Dettol (not compulsory)
f. Two plastic buckets (You can buy it in the camp but it will be costlier) and a permanent marker.
g. Sponge and its case, bath soap and detergent
h. Bedsheet, towel and wrapper and two pairs of casual wear. Just have it.
i. Mosquito Net (not compulsory)
j. Handkerchiefs (very important)
k. Waist bag (very very important for housing your phones,ID Cards,Handky,biros,etc)
l. Novels
m. Small-sized Torchlight/Rechargeable lamp (small one please)
n. Your ATM card(s)
o. Cooler (not a party cooler please) cup and spoon. The fork is not allowed
p. Phone and charger
q. Beverages and a loaf (just for quick refreshment)
r. Ladies could add any other few conveniences. I believe you understand me
t. Money! Money! Money! Hold good cash please depending on how you spend.
GO EARLY!
Even if the camp is on your street, go early. If you are posted to a far state, go the day before the camp opens. They will allow you in. Going late will make you go through registration stress. I was a victim, be warned!
SCREENING
It starts at the gate. They don't want you to bring in prohibited items like iron, knives, bombs, etc.
REGISTRATION
The first one is for hostel/bed space and then the paper registrations proper. Make everything ready. Look out for information posted on walls. Follow instructions strictly.
YOUR KITS
During the registration, you will get your kits -- shirts, shorts, etc. Use the marker to write your Code Number (CN) on them 'sharp-sharp'.
You will also be given a tag that will show your CN. That will be your ID card temporarily. You take it EVERYWHERE on camp. You will be given a meal ticket. Misplace it and forget about NYSC food.
DURATION
You will be in the camp for 20 full days. The 21st day is the day you will leave camp.
THERE YOU GO!
Immediately you have your kits, only your T-shirt and shorts with the tennis shoe are allowed on you. No room for casual wears. Parade/marching training starts immediately. The soldiers will not give you breathing space at all. You will have the first one that same Day One. Watch out, people could be fainting on the Parade Ground. You won't faint, calm down. So eat well. It's the stress that causes fainting. Don't form superman, eat!
YOUR MORNINGS
A small trumpet wakes you at 5am. Everybody gathers at the Parade Ground (PG) at 5:30am.
You have your praise, worship and prayer the Christian and Muslim ways.till the day breaks finally.
Breakfast follows!
Breakfast follows!
After eating, you will be called out again for the series of programmes lined up for you. Then you have your lunch. Rest a little and you are out again for evening parade. This will later be followed by your dinner. This will repeat itself every day perhaps except on Sunday.
THE FOOD
You may not like the food. You can always go to the Mammy Market(MM) i.e. the Camp Market to fill your 'tank' with delicacies at your cost.
STEALING
This is 'legalised'. They can steal anything. Be wise.
THE SOLDIERS
Hmmm. Obey them, please. They can punish you. No walking, it's all jogging when they call you. Don't prostrate or kneel down greeting a soldier. Do it the soldier way. They could be friendly anyway. Be wise.
ALLOWEE
Your first allowance will be given to you in the camp cash. All other ones will be through the bank. You will get Bicycle Allowance first. Manage and keep your cash well. Be wise.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographers are ready to snap you every minute. Manage your cash.
FELLOWSHIP
After your physical strength is drained, you need to refresh yourself in God's presence. Identify with the Corpers' Fellowship. It's God or nothing. I'll tell you more. Ride on.
RELATIONSHIP AND SEX MATTERS
This section is 'over-important'. I have written a different note on this.It will be shared on this space,here in Inside Lekki Ajah. Read it.
SPORT LOVERS
Footballers, go with your kit. Simple!
NOW, YOU ARE ABOUT GOING OUT OF THE CAMP
YOUR POSTING
You will be posted from the camp to where to work. The place to work in is called your Place of Primary Assignment (PPA). Hear this: most Corpers, I mean about 90% of the Corpers will be posted to schools (especially primary and secondary schools). Only VERY FEW will be posted to the universities, polytechnics and Colleges.
Medical students will CERTAINLY be posted to Govt Health Centres and Hospitals. That is certain.
Please! Don't lobby for your posting. Don't pay ANYBODY for assistance. Pray rather than pay.
Gone are the days when Corps Members are posted to Banks and Co. Receive the shocking or expected postings as you receive your letters with joy. It's a clarion call to service; that's what we call it.
GOING OUT: TRANSPORTATION
When you get your Posting Letter, the first place to go to is your PPA. If you identified with the Fellowship in camp, you may first report at the TEMPORARY lodge they will provide. Then you could report at your PPA later same day or the following day.
Please, when you leave the camp, home-sweet-home will be on your mind, having been used up in the camp. But please, don't go home straight. Please!
Very few of your employers (i.e. PPAs) will send down vehicles to convey you from the camp to their workplaces. Private and some Govt higher education institutions do. The Fellowship too make arrangement for you at your cost. Commercial transporters will likely be available at the gate too. I went with the Fellowship arrangement anyway. Be wise.
ACCOMMODATION
You don't know anybody in Damaturu or Ekiti! Where will you sleep on the first day? Relax. The Fellowship may give you a TEMPORARY accommodation pending the time you will HAVE TO GET YOURS.
You could be lucky if your employer gives you a room. Many of them don't give Corpers accommodation anyway. So be prepared to rent one at your cost. Your first 'allowee' which you received in the camp is already going down!
REGISTRATIONS
This is why you don't have to go home straight. Your registration at the NYSC Office in the Local Govt you will be posted to is important. Failure to complete it before going home is the beginning of a Corper's cup of tea. He may begin to have problems with his subsequent monthly allowances. I'm speaking from an indirect experience now. Do all registrations first. Then you can take permission to go home. Permission to go home? Long process! You will soon know why it's so.
SETTLING DOWN
Now, your body don come down. You have finished all registrations and you are now in your room. The television is there, the generator or PHCN is working, the kitchen is loaded! Haha, no be so oo.
Well, you will be fine in Jesus' name. Know your environment. Be vigilant too. You are new so calm down. Don't be a busybody. Don't go where you weren't invited to. Take a walk during the day and not in the night. Be wise. I know you know!
I can't tell you all. Some things are better experienced than being narrated.
But be sure God is with you always. Don't forsake him at all and He won't leave you. He says, 'When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One...'. But that is if you walk orderly before Him. Be wise.
Congratulations and safe journey as you travel by road or by air to your camp.
Written by Anani Sunday.
08029299709
Can you please edit the paragraph that has the bla bla section. It may be offensive to some of your readers and followers
ReplyDeleteAn interesting and informative piece.
ReplyDelete