Memories. 1979. I got my NYSC call-up papers. Kaduna State. The Nigerian government flew me all expenses paid into Kaduna from Benin City. Until then, I think I'd traveled by air only once in my life.
From the airport we were taken by bus to Malali Village for one month of Orientation. Had a great time, a lot of drinking and socializing. I was in the drama club and the Palm Wine Drinkards' Club. I was popular with the girls, I think that they loved my clowning around on stage.
Our "bicycle advance" was 90 Naira. Our monthly allowance was 180 Naira. I had so much money, I did not know what to do with it. Random. I saved a lot of money from my NYSC stint and gave them all to my mother. I guess that was to repay mama for all her beer I bought on credit!🙆🏾♀️
I don't much remember the point of Orientation, a lot of soldiers running around trying to make us march in formation. I hated parades, me and my two left feet. I preferred to go into the village with my friends to imbibe anything drinkable and eat street food. Life was good sha.
At the end of the orientation, they took us by bus to our stations. Mine was Kagoro. Kagoro Government Secondary School, a stone's throw from Kafanchan. I taught Physics, Chemistry, Biology, the occasional math class, and some English.
I left Kagoro for home in 1980. I would have gladly stayed behind in Kaduna State but in those days they didn’t employ non-indigenes. Had a great time, I learnt Hausa, fell in love with the food and the opekes, but I think now that the NYSC should be scrapped. What do you think?
PS. It is easy to imagine that life was great then. TBH, it wasn’t that great, certainly not in the context of my life as a young man in the US. As a youth corper, I would take the trains from Kafanchan to Enugu or to Ibadan and take road transport to my parents in Bendel State.
When you alighted from the filthy trains you looked like a mad man. Orientation camp was filthy. I could write a book on how I ended up in Kagoro and how I got my accommodation. The administration had no idea how many people would come to NYSC, it was crowded and oversubscribed.
When I got into UniBen in 1976, the enrollment was already bulging at the seams, there were squatters, the beautiful campuses that Governor Ogbemudia had dreamed up were already becoming shabby. The toilets were overflowing, and students were staying 4 plus, in rooms meant for 2.
The “Junior Staff Quarters” became a bustling market to meet needs that were missing from the administration. The labs were still stocked with reagents and equipment, but I remember this one night doing our practicals with the aid of light from one of the lecturers’ cars, lol.
But I grew up in abusive barracks and boarding schools, and UniBen seemed like heaven. The first year, they did our laundry and cleaned our rooms. The food was heavenly, for 25 kobo you had a 3-course meal to die for. On Sundays, we had chicken and jollof rice and ice cream, lol!
They couldn’t tell from year to year how many students they would have, overcrowding was a problem. The funds were there, but the structure was not robust enough to handle the demand. There was at least one student riot - the Ali Must Go crisis in my 2nd year. That was something!
The lecturers were mostly well behaved but there was little oversight and accountability, we had our own share of assholes as professors. If you were questioning like me, you got in trouble. I almost did not graduate, lol. I am still here, no thanks to them. *pounds cute chest*
In general, we are busy discussing symptoms of a structural problem. Our ruling and intellectual elite need to invest in structural reform of our tertiary institutions, Nigeria needs an extreme makeover. Until then it remains a vast crime scene.🙆🏾♀️
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