Eko Corper Pt 1 First posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2007

It all started on a cold evening in England when my father and mother suggested quite expectedly that I come back to Nigeria to do my National Youth Service. At the time the notion of coming back to Nigeria held some appeal to me, I had finished my studies and in a way I was passing time from one job to the next trying to break into my field of study. After some investigations and noting the fact that by going to Nigeria I would lose my independence, I waffled for several months, then deciding that it would be a good idea to go to Nigeria and get it over and done with, and that is when all the trouble started.

I arrived in Nigeria in the beginning of January believing that the service year would begin in February, I was wrong. After questioning many people within the NYSC Scheme, and people I believed were my friends, and trust me when I say nobody told me the truth of what was about to happen to me. At first I was led to believe that by the middle of February, I would be having a wonderful, granted slightly stressful time at camp, and that there was no problem with getting the information I would need, or that would be required of me, Right. This was the first of many misinformations that I was to receive during this period both from laymen and officials.

The first shock that awaited me was during the processing of my application, I had to go to Abuja, not once, but twice, this at a price of 10000 Naira per trip. This amount did not include transportation when I got there and any possible accommodation costs that might be required. Due to the necessity of this, I spent the money thinking it would be a straight forward process. As you can imagine, this was not the case, and after copious amounts of photocopies, carting my passport and certificate over, and the inimitable queuing, the process in Abuja ended, Thank God.

The trip was not only financially tasking, it was also a waste of time, in as much as I spent hours queuing for something that I could have been informed about at the first desk I went to . Unlike some who have had the ‘foreign’ education, my parents are not rich in either time or money so the time spent there trying to sort things out was a drain on their resources, and the little money I had saved coming back. After this process ended, I was told that I was to return on the morning of March 5 2007, to pick up my call up letter, on receipt of which, I noticed I was to report on March 6. When asked where I was to report, I was told that to go to the Lagos Secretariat. So like a good little girl, at 7am on the morning of March 6 2007, I went to Surulere Lagos (the Lagos State Secretariat) believing that they would register each person, give them their kit and then point them to the camp site, how wrong was I.

I arrived at the secretariat at approximately 8.30am, where I was informed that I was not meant to be there, instead I was to report to Iyana Ipaja, on the other side of Lagos. Now anyone who has ever traveled in Lagos traffic knows it is not easy to move from one part to the other. So my family and I turned the car towards said location believing that this was where all of the above will take place. Imagine my surprise when I was told on arrival that camp started that day and that I would be unable to enter the camp area without my luggage. So back to the house to pack up and come back, traffic snarling around us, my parents and I nearly at the end of our rope out of frustration and snapping at each other, made it home and back. My naive parents believing that the government would supply all that was needed left me with a nominal amount of cash, N2000, little did they know that this amount would not last the day……….