MY NYSC EXPERIENCE

My service year came unexpected. I had just graduated from the university and all I wanted was to relax and get myself back to shape both in body and mind because my final year experience was life draining. When I got my call up letter on a Monday and my date of deployment read “Benue”, I was excited because it was among the states I wanted to be deployed to. Amidst my excitement, I was still sad because I knew I wasn’t ready for the whole new experience thing. I had heard so many stories about NYSC camp and I just wanted to be prepared for the new adventure. I left my city on a Thursday for my state of deployment after packing a few whites. It was more like an 8 hours journey. I had to travel by road because from my little source it was gathered that Benue state doesn’t have a functioning airport. Well it wasn’t like I was going to purchase a plane ticket anyways. I had no money for that. The journey to Benue state was a whole lot of new experience and at a point I was actually happy that I didn’t miss it. We got to a point that we had to step down from our vehicle in order to make it to the other side of the road. We had to cross a water body I would have loved to describe as an ocean. I have phobia for water and knowing that I was going to enter a boat for the first time freaked me out. Our car was mounted on a very big boat and we joined in. It was one of the amazing and mind blowing thing I had yet seen again. I wondered how they could come up with such an idea but all I could figure out was that the boat was being powered by an engine. I wanted to know more but fear had already over clouded my mind that it seemed life I was fighting for my life on a boat carrying a bus. When we crossed over to the other side of the road, I asked the driver why they would want to put people into this kind of horror experience and he said by crossing the river which was about 15minutes, 2 hours journey had been covered. Well that was very logical but yet dangerous for people like me. I was glad I got to experience crossing a river for the first time and without dying of fear because at a point I thought I was going to pass out in the process. We arrived NYSC orientation camp Wannune Benue state around 8:30pm. I was exhausted and instead of entering the camp that night, I decided to spend the night in a hotel in Makurdi to recover from the rigors of the journey before coming into the camp the next day. I got into the camp which was Friday around 1:05pm. I was asked to present my green card and call up later at the gate before entering which I did. Inside the camp at the gate was a canopy filled with NCDC officials. We were asked to bring a COVID-19 test slip from home which I presented to them at the gate. I had no idea that the COVID-19 test was going to be another horror movie. I had never done it prior to coming to camp so I had to do it for the first time. When I saw how it was done, I started freaking out. When it was my turn I was already freaking out. The lady asked me to sit down which I did and when she noticed how scared I was, she asked me if I was ready and wanted to do it and fearfully I said yes. She drove something that looked like a swap stick down into my nostrils. I was literally screaming and when she pulled it out, tears dropped down from my eyes and my nostrils felt like it had been damaged. My result came out negative and a friend whom I came with from home also tested negative. I was given a paper called a job sheet which contained all the procedures for my registration in the camp. After carrying out each registration process, it was to be signed. I joined a queue where my bag was searched. The man searching my bag asked where I was from and I told him. To my surprise he spoke my language and it left me wondering how someone in that part of the country could possibly know how to speak my language . Well I wasn’t in the right mood for a conversation so I didn’t get to know how he knew how to speak my language. All I wanted at that time was to get done with the registration and settle down. No contraband was found in my belongings so I was asked to move to the next step. I went to the multi purpose hall and I was given a paper to fill after which I was given a mattress. I was asked to go and keep my belongings and bed in the hostel before I continue with the registration process. My belongings were carried to the hostel by a young man who obviously was earning from such. When I got to the hostel, I was attended to by a friendly looking female. She asked me to go to A3 room 10 and secure a bunk because the female hostels had 4 dorms. I came back and told her I found an up bunk but she suggested that I go to room 11 so that I can get a comfortable bunk. I did and after that we chatted for a while and I left for the multi purpose hall to continue with my registration. The registration process was very stressful as I expected and I spent almost the entire day in the hall because of the population. I finally finished from the hall but my friend was asked to return back home because his biometric thumb did not pick because the wrong scanner was used. I felt really bad for him considering the stress we all went through to get to where we were. The last step was the collection of kits which was basically the NYSC outfits. It was already getting dark so my platoon officer asked me to come the next day.