My NYSC experience 4

  Financially my stay in kaiama was hell,I had never been a prudent spender and the transition from the glory days of housemanship to the sorry days in kaiama was very steep owing to an 81.25% pay-cut. NYSC allowance of N19,800 and a further N10,000 assistance by his excellency the Emir  (king) of Kaiama was my fixed monthly income.
Our appeal to the state ministry of health as medical personnel posted to a state owned facility was met with assurances of pay.I was made to understand that the state pays N44,000 to corper doctors monthly and that efforts were in the pipeline to commence our payment.That pipeline however never saw the light of day as kwara state never paid us a kobo throughout our 11 months of duty.God bless the kwara state government.
  I will remain ever grateful to the Emir of Kaiama,who never faltered in his promise and ensured that a fully qualified,able bodied medical doctor did not go hungry in service to his great nation.Towards every month end I would beckon on the corper pharmacist Abdil(who was also a beneficiary of Emir's help) as he was conversant with the Emir's palace staff saying: 'Is the Emir in good health?' which in plain words meant my pocket was running dry and i was looking forward to his booster infusion.God bless him.(not like kwara state governments blessings though!).
  Food was however very cheap, so was booze and all i really had to worry about was fueling my car at a rate as high as N200 per liter at some point with some other maintenance related expenses as well.All in all I was surprisingly comfortable although every now and then I needed the good old fashioned loan from Abdil my 'Bank of Kaiama'. I was also occasionally buoyant enough to lend friends money so even though it was tough for me by the end of the service year I had been transformed from the extravagant doctor to a much more prudent and strategic spender.This was one of the real positives I gained from the NYSC scheme.


Although my transformation and present monetary ethics may seem pretty impressive to me I was nowhere near a past corper; The Corper-legend of Kaiama. Hot debates still emerge till this very day whenever his topic is raised.One school of thought among corpers say he's a mere myth and never existed another proportion of corpers claim he actually did,insisting he was among the 2015 batch A corps members and his identity had to be kept secret.Weather or not he really walked the streets of kaiama in an NYSC vest and green khakis,one cannot but marvel at the story of his amazing financial feat. It is one mere mortals like myself can only dare to imagine.
  Rumour had it that this legendary corper,despite earning only N19,800 monthly was able to save up N15,000 every single month of his stay and had an astonishing N196,000 in his bank account on the day of his passing tout parade(POP).The sacrifices he had to make however to achieve this goal are out of this world.
It was said about him that as a first rule ,he never spoke to ladies.The regular 'Hello','hi' was all the business he had with them.This singular action is estimated to have helped him save about N4,770 of the N15,000 he set aside every single month. Rumour also had it that he never,ever took a commercial bike (usually costing N50) for transport.His two strong legs must have covered well over 250km every month.I suspect this kept him fit and healthy(although he collapsed on several occasions).
  As for food,he practiced a closed diet,no snacks,few fruits if any at all,indomie,garri and bread(at least a day old) was the order of the day.A corper friend of mine even claims he was seen eating at a road side food vendors once,his choice of 2 wraps of pounded yam with no 'animal(fish or meat)' was said to be striking.Pure water was a waste of precious money for him and believe you me he was said to have never ever bought a single sachet with his hard earned 'Alawee' throughout his stay.
  I could go on and on about this genius but i would have to write a different book to capture the full depts of his record breaking lifestyle.

My NYSC experience Part 3

Time heals even the deepest of wounds,this was quite evidently the case for me. Within three months of that 8 hour trip to kaiama  (the place of rest) I had accepted my fate and fully settled down.
Most,if not all my wears were here now,I had my car fully repaired and rid of all damages inflicted by my trip,work had commenced at PPA and I was deeply in the process  of getting to know more about my novel environment.
Kaiama is a small town and capital of the kaiama local government area.My first impression was that of a very quiet place with peace loving and kind hearted inhabitants. Early positives included the fact that pounded yam,one of my favourite dishes is indeed the most widely consumed meal in kaiama and really cheap to get,even though it was very often served along side unsavoury, unhygienic and impoverished soups the food vendors  churn out on a daily basis.It didn't take much time to adjust to the food though and to my amazement I fell in love with the locally made cheese 'wara'
A long narrow tarred road divided the town in half so to speak,spanning its full length and having all the major offices on each side.There was our beloved corpers logde on the right and the NYSC secretariat directly opposite it.The Bank,Local government office and other prominent shopping complexes also flanked the main road,leading up all the way to a roundabout.This roundabout marked the 'end' of kaiama for a good number of corpers,however for the enlightened few it was our get-away zone for kaiama 'nightlife'.
It was popular talk among corpers that everywhere in kaiama was trek-able meaning that one could easily walk to wherever one wanted to go.I would agree with this assessment actually but the scorching hot sun was a major deterrent for me and i preferred to go  places on four wheels. Five minutes was the time for me,no matter where i wanted to visit in the town i would get there in less than 5 minutes,this made kaiama seem even smaller to me and i likened it to one big playground.
In this playground,corpers accommodation had different fancy names.We had Commissioners lodge,Aso-Rock Villa,White house lodge,Opposite White house lodge,Presidential lodge,Family House(NCCF) and Las Vegas lodge(my personal favourite).
I liked to imagine each lodge as a unit and each unit having one personality even though this was merely a broad generalisation. So for me Commissioners lodge was home to the party people(who loved to dig it), Aso-Rock Villa was 'FBI' kaiama zonal office,White house lodge-the exclusive lodge for the elite (which included our L.G.I),Opposite White house lodge-Peacemakers nest,Presidential lodge- Kaiama Gossip headquarters,Family house-abode of saints and Las Vegas lodge-where the most sort after corper chicks in kaiama proudly resided.

To be continued...