Thread by @toluogunlesi

Did my NYSC at Okwe General Hospital in Asaba, along the highway leading to the Niger Bridge. There was one Buka not too far away where I used to go and eat Akpu and white soup regularly. They called it ‘6-to-6’ — it was all the food you needed for an entire day.

NYSC allowance was 5k at the time, but as an NYSC Pharmacist Delta State Govt paid 19k monthly extra. (Doctors got even more). For me a climb down from 38k Internship money. But Compared to the rest of the Corpers it was a lot of money. Some had only the 5k allowance.

One day I got invited by BBC Media Action to be part of the writing crew for the Story Story Radio series. In Abuja. I entered bus and traveled from Asaba to Abuja. My first time in the Federal Capital. A hectic but fun two weeks - my first time as part of a radio writing team.

At the end of the gig, BBC paid me a whopping 65,000 Naira. For two weeks of fun writing lol. Here I was, a Corper earning a total of 24k a month, and then I went to Abuja to write for two weeks and came back with N65k. Traveled with the cash back to Asaba & deposited in bank 😀

At that time in Asaba we all opened STB - or was it UBA - bank accounts for NYSC money.

No home or mobile internet - so I used to type out all my emails on a diskette (had a laptop), and then go to the cyber cafe in town, to maximize the 30 minutes or so I would regularly pay for. I was writing a lot of poetry and fiction and submitting for publication.

I was writing a LOT that year. Blogging for the BBC’s Africa ‘05 Blog (2005 was a big Year for ‘Africa’, Gleneagles G8 Summit, Blair’s Commission for Africa, debt relief etc). The BBC was my first ever blog, and I don’t think very many Nigerians were blogging at the time.

If you’ve ever taken your bath out in the open in an NYSC camp you might identify with this poem. I wrote it during or shortly after Camp in Issele-Uku. 2005. I don’t think I ‘toileted’ more than once my entire time in camp. My stomach assessed the conditions and adapted.
😀😀😀