My N.Y.S.C Experience

The National Youth Service Experience (N.Y.S.C) was a really lovely experience, probably the best experience I'av had......ermm well not exactly the best...lol, especially the idea of waking us up with whistles and trumpets by 3:00am but it's right up there among the best experiences I have had.

I initially felt that the N.Y.S.C program was in the simplest of terms, a waste of one (1) precious year of our lives, however, three weeks in that Orientation camp, with everyone dressed like white chickens (otondo...lol) was enough to redirect my views on the positive side of things even though positivity only revealed herself towards the end of the orientation camp. Simply put, it was worth it.

Unfortunately, the same is not the case with everyone, as despite the N.Y.S.C being a supposed source of remedy to our lack of understanding and alarming ignorance about our different cultures and religions, there were still sights of the predominantly northern Muslims, and southern Christians in their clicks chatting away with occasional formalities exchanged between the two groups.
It seemed like a dead marriage where despite husband and wife living together, nothing was working because the couple refused to talk about the problems and let bygones be bygones.

Despite not wanting to be here, I was, and in a typical fashion, I had to make it count.
My first targets were my Muslim brothers who were easily accessible.
To me, this was an opportunity to finally talk to a random Muslim about his beliefs, and life views and maybe if I was lucky get to understand life from his own perspective without the fear of being stabbed..lol.

I learnt in three weeks,  so much about our northern Muslim brothers that I was honestly disappointed at my level of ignorance about my fellow compatriots.

I learnt from Mohammed, a roommate of mine, how Islam sees Christians, about some characters in the holy book and the prophet Mohammed (PBUH), Bilal, the first Muslim who called for prayers, a black slave. Some other characters are Ali (can'it remember his other name..lol) who is the supposed founder of the Shiite sect of Islam. I unfortunately learnt about Dar Al-Harb and Dar Al-Islam, the former meaning the world at war (i.e unIslamised parts of the world) and the later meaning world at peace (i.e the islamised parts of the world). This unfortunately is one of the trumpeted ideologies by Islamic fundamentalists.
I did learn about how the oil boom of the 70's with over 50% of the world's oil in Arab land was seen as a sign from Allah that Islam was indeed on the right path. The continual formations of different sections as a result of different interpretations of the Koran to state but a few.

I learnt from Asmau that most Muslims are just as scared of these crises as we Christians are. That a Muslim lady is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim, however, a Muslim man can do so. That not all Muslims are as conservative as they seem, and that many northern Muslims like money just as much as the average igbo man at main market Onitsha...lol

I had always been fascinated at how Muslims kept more than a wife and all of them seemed to live in harmony with each other, however my doubts were cleared when Asmau exclaimed "They are not ohh!!!"...lol...

The biggest lesson for me however was the issue of trust between the northern Muslim, and the Igbo Christian. For everyone I asked, I got the same response. "The igbo man always has a trick under his sleeve".

I wasn't only there to learn you know, And so I taught Asmau that all southerners do not speak a common language as this is a prevailing fallacy up north. The southerners also think anyone north of Edo state speaks Hausa, and that they are all Muslims.

And that the Southerners had a lot more value of life than their northern counterparts. And that unlike the case of the north where the culture and religion were intertwined, the southerners had religion at one pole, and then culture at the other.

To me, this was the best reward for three weeks in camp, for I understood to an extent from a Muslim perspective and this has greatly improved my interactions with all Nigerians alike and made me appreciate the beauty in our diversity.

I learnt a whole lot more, from cosmetology to the basic principles of solar power generation as I kept on moving from one SAED (Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development) tent to the other.

I chased some of the most beautiful women also.....lol...and I got to see their real faces as no one was going to have make up on at 3:00 am for morning parade...lol......But I kid you not, some ladies still had their make up and hair on fleek  at 3:00am and i kept asking them "please aunty are you a mamiwater" lol.

I'd sit under a tree and shout out to flat girls who passed by "You have a very bright future behind you dear" and she'd giggle and shake her petit bum.

I met a really beautiful lady, and some of the best friends I'll probably have in a long time.

The Man O War drills, the chit chats with them female soldiers, and those crazy nights at mami market.
Those evil soldiers who after you bought drinks, blew the whistle in your face when it was time for lights out...lol
That crazy night with a really close friend who could not carry herself back to her hostel after a bottle of snapp...lol

One night, I and two friends Madus and Buchi were feeling adventurous and then decided that mami was the destination and the tool would be some bottles of magic moment and coca cola to obtain the best outputs.....I woke up still high the next morning, not with a hangover sef, and had to play the trumpet all day.....lol

Another day, I needed to go ease myself behind some bushes around the hostel, and this igbo brethren of mine was doing his business in the dark. Then came i with a flashlight carelessly pointing the spectrum at uncle who was squatting about 4 metres to my right, and as the light caught his white shorts down, he let out a cry "Nna Ehh!!!! na ìhè a nile sitere na ọnwa, i nwere ike ịhụ ebe ị na-aga"
(with all this light from the moon, you can't see where you are going) I laughed until tears fell from my eyes. The moonlight that day was especially bright i must confess...lol

I joined the band as a brass player, and met some of the most beautiful musicians I'd ever know.
EIE (eba is eba) don't ask me how he got the name coz i have no idea myself...lol an exceptional trombonist though, Maureen, Grace, Kingsley, Daniel, to mention but a few
Lucy, Emelda on the bass, Vivian on them tenor drums.

The boys in my hostel made it even more fun, with the likes of Gabriel, Uneke, Oba, Paul, Kabiru, Raymon, Al Sharaweey ( This one stole my babe without even knowing it, thanks to his name), Mike, Tosin.
In summary, when it's your turn to serve, go all out. Just go all out, but don't forget the essence of the program in the first place and hopefully, we all can bring our Country out of this mess.

Yours Sincerely,
Okonkwo Noble..

Northern folks, Asmau and Kabiru, one more thing, the name is OKONKWO KWO KWO, not OKONKO KO KO......lol God bless us all.