Tales Of Life Trainings, Canadian vs Nigerian, dedicated to the loving memory of Collins Domike
I like to start this blog by giving credit to Mr. Timothy Reid, A Canadian Forces veteran and colleague with whom I had a conversation which sparked the idea to write this blog. Sitting with Reid, one afternoon at work before the beginning of our routine, he was telling me about his days in training camp at the Canadian Forces Recruit School in Wainwright, Alberta, while being paid a minimal allowance, before becoming a member of the Canadian forces. The drills, the early morning PTs, the discipline instilled on them during training by the Military staff, the expectation from them by the trainers during inspection in terms of cleanliness(bed made, rifle cleaned, shoes polished), early wake up, eating breakfast joining others for the daily activities on the campground and how despite having left the Military a few years ago, this training has carried on to his daily life. If there is one thing I have noticed the most with the veteran colleagues I have worked work with and who our paths have crossed, it is that these veterans tend to keep to a standard of expectation from punctuality, discipline, deportment and time management to mention a few, which in turn earns them that respect from fellow staff and worthy of emulation, be it an old or a younger person who is out of the military. A style of life learned a long time ago that carries on forever. This reminds me of a program structured in a similar manner in my home country Nigeria, The National Youth Service Corp founded in 1973 with a goal of involving the Youths in nation building and development. Among its objectives are; Inculcating discipline in youths, instilling a tradition of industry at work, patriotism and loyalty of service to Nigeria in any situation they found themselves in, contributing to the growth of the national economy, making the youths have a positive mindset at all times and appreciating their work environment. To me, my biggest take away from the program were the values of adaptability and hard work. To be eligible for this program, one must be a graduate and it happens to be the last phase before going into the job market. Some employers require the certificate obtained after completing this program(The NYSC Certificate) before hiring a prospective job applicant and of note is the fact that this certificate is mandatory before working in any government parastatal/sector. Those partaking in this program are often referred to as “Corpers” and the Federal, State and Local government combined pay a stipend referred to as “Allowee’ to each corper.
Mine started after University July 2009-June 2010 precisely, as it is that every graduate awaits a posting on their University board(at the time) notifying them of which of the Thirty-six states in Nigeria or the Federal Capital territory they are posted to. A totally new place miles away from your home, might be a different religion, different beliefs while earning a minimal payment and that’s where you make your life happen for the whole year of the program. I always wanted to go to Oyo state, a state in the Western part of Nigeria, one of the best coincidences of my life till date. While everyone seemed to wish for Lagos State, Port-Harcourt Or Abuja(The Federal capital) with the hope of being retained and starting a life after the Service year as these are three best places to live in Nigeria. I had told friends I wish I got posted to Oyo state, just to learn the culture, the way of life and the people there known as the Yoruba people of Nigeria. I remember going to our Alma Mater(University of Benin) with my Dubai based friend Collins Edeghe that day to check our posting, I saw my name on the board and beside it were the letters “OY” which I didn’t know what it meant, until I asked more and was told that OY stands for OYO state, the same state out of the thirty-six states I had always wished for. Well, there went my jubilationnnnnn aside the coincidence(sometimes what we think of so much, comes to reality eh!) Bags all packed, anxiety at its peak, all ready for this new phase before the job market. I was to report to a camp called Iseyin Camp in a village in a remote part of that state. Well I hopped on the bus and the journey began. I arrived in Ibadan that day and it dawned on me that my expectation was far from reality. Lol, I did expect the state to be a developed state but to my chagrin, I never knew Oyo state was one of the oldest states in West Africa(No Kidding), as it is my tradition during a tour or trip or going to a place for the first time that I always like sitting by the driver where I can get some good gist and strike a conversation to get lots of information about the new destination. Ibadan (the capital of Oyo state) was so remote I was forced to ask the driver "when do we get to the capital"? I mean the city where there are high-rises, tall buildings, beautiful roads, as I will expect because Oyo state is one of the neighbouring states to Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria and one of the bubbling beautiful places you will find in Nigeria, because it looked like we had been driving all day in remote places. And the driver told me “Ore Mi '' meaning “My friend” this is the capital. I looked round and could see the dilapidated buildings, the old roofs and old structures. Outstanding about Ibadan is the topography of the land, aside from being one of the oldest cities in West Africa, it's undulating nature meant you could stand in one location and see so many parts of the city. "Ooooo Myyyy, what is this"? I said inside me, I haven’t even reached the remote camp I am to report in. If the city is like this, what will the rural place look like, which was another three hours journey into this remoteness? So I arrived Iseyin camp late night and could hear the Camp commandant, Captain at the time, now Colonel Okechukwu Kwentoh a Six-foot-three or so Army officer in his baritone voice yelling at everyone to get their shit together and welcoming us to his camp where he takes no bit of indiscipline. Those three weeks in that camp did resonate with me as what my colleague Mr. Reid had mentioned about his Military camp training in Alberta, the trainings bore similarities in terms of time- management, discipline, deportment, respect, professionalism and all of that which is very important in our daily lives even after those days and in the workforce. The most important part of that camp was the popular “ Mammy market''( A place in the camp where traders brought their wares for sale and corpers had the opportunity to buy things they couldn’t get such as food or clothing as there was usually no option to leave the camp).
Next phase after camp was the posting, the real place you will have to use your skills and training from camp in wherever work area you were assigned to. Mine was Ikolaba Grammar School, Agodi, Ibadan, at least I was happy that I was going to be in the city for the rest of my service year and not a remote place which could have been worse like others got posted to. Off we went in the bus we had hired as a group including other corpers going to the same location. The next day I reported at the school, met the Principal who informed me the school was in need of a Mathematics teacher and with my degree in Accounting, he was assigning me as a Maths teacher for the Senior Secondary students SS1-SS3(Grade10-12).I got to the class and introduced myself and it went awkward from there, because the majority of students did not understand English and I didn’t speak their language(the Yoruba language), which made me always used the help of a student interpreter whenever the communication went sideways. Okay, time to get a place to live in this new city of mine called Ibadan and I hired the services of someone referred to as "agent" out there, who for some money could link one up with the owners of properties willing to rent. My friend till date called ‘Alhaji”, Alhaji had told me to come at a time when another corper was coming to see him so he would show us his available properties at the same time. On arriving there, I met a fellow corper by name Daniel Ogonna who was from Ebonyi state (one of the eastern states of Nigeria). Daniel was from the East and I from the South and here we are in the West, a different culture, belief, people and just everything different. With two strangers in a land that seemed foreign, it was easier to navigate the environment and then came our third friend Collins Domike from Imo state(another eastern state), a true epitome of humility, we were sure of the trios of that year as we were all born same year(Collins in March, Daniel in June and I in July). Something amazing about Daniel was his cooking skills, for a guy, never till date have I seen a good male cook as Daniel, and I never missed out of an eastern delicacy throughout our service year courtesy of Dan, sure we had our competitions of delicacies Southern versus Eastern, with them I felt the hospitality of true Igbos. The Igbo people of Nigeria being known for their industriousness, hardwork and entrepreneural spirit alongside ability to survive anywhere had a community in Ibadan, which they quickly brought us into and treated us like we were home. Daniel being an electrical Electronics graduate of Ebonyi state University was posted to the Ministry of Youths in Ibadan a few blocks away from the school I was posted to and Collins posted to Ministry of water resources, our lives was fun, all we needed more was a Christian worshipping location and we opted for the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Worthy of mention here is the opportunity to volunteer during the program. While brainstorming one day, on the prospects of careers in law enforcement, Daniel decided to volunteer with the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), I and Collins went for National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with hopes of having a training in Drug laws in Nigeria. That year had a great impact in my life, as will be in the life of every Nigerian youth who undergoes the program, although like everything the program comes with its anomalies, such as corrupt officials and all of that. We had planned a party at the secretariat for our passing-out in June 2010 as the service year was coming to an end except for a tragic incident. On the day of our passing out, after our year was done. As is required, all youth corpers meet again one last time for a final march past often inspected by the Governor of the State of one’s posting or his/her representative who then declares the service year over and every one gets their certificate and returns to their various cities. I being a member of our passing out Quarter guard during the March past on that fateful day of June 24th, 2010 at the Lekan Salami stadium, was in front and as expected in the Military, that while standing at attention there should be no movement, i heard a loud thud, someone had fallen head forward i was told and I remember not being able to turn around, but could hear an ambulance and then wailings behind me, that person was Domike Collins, every effort to resuscitate him proved abortive and he was pronounced dead due to cardiac arrest by the medical team right there. Collins was one of the happiest corpers during our service year as can be seen in his pic(top right, right side) above this blog, larger than life, always talking about how he couldn’t wait to get back to Imo State in the east and most importantly while the rest of us always travelled at the slightest opportunity to our home states, he never did because Imo State was a long distance away from Ibadan where we were and he wasn't a big fan of travelling. That incident broke us all and I personally made a decision that day to live one day at a time and never wait till tomorrow to do the things that made one happy. The fact that I’ll think Collins our friend must have had big plans all through his university days, worked very hard during the service year and endured the pains of the Youth service program only to see it all end a few hours before receiving his certificate that will allow him an opportunity into the job market in Nigeria. As we packed up his belongings and gave them to his family and watched his casket draped in the Nigerian green, white and green coloured flag as a honor of his service to his fatherland leaving for Imo state(His hometown) in a hearse paid for by the Government, so many questions kept crossing my mind as per if his passing could have been averted in anyway. i.e not taking part in the program, the response he got from the Medical team, was there anyone who had Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) training and could have provided it as we were not given such training at any time during the program.
It has been more than ten years since I took part in that program but I am thankful for the way it shapes youths into striving to survive with nothing, being loyal to authorities, adapting to new environments, living within one’s means. When I compare my observation from the veterans I have encountered in Canada to my personal training/experience in the National Youth Service Corp. I realize that the values and skills we learn early in our lives, whether instilled or adopted in far away Africa or here in North America, go well into our lives to mould and shape us into what we become even as we get older.
As I draw the curtains of this blog and await the idea for the next, I'd like to say thank you to everyone reading. Keep Resting in peace until that resurrection morning my humble friend Domike Collins.
