LIFE AFTER NYSC: THE REALITY, MY STORY

Good evening ladies and gentlemen of HOA and to all of our new members strictly here for this purpose. We do hope to have you around and enjoy more of your company and of course so you also get to enjoy some of our unannounced events.

Quickly and briefly, you are all officially welcome to another round of RANDOM TALK WITH ABSOL. A platform where we get to dissect issues from diverse issues affecting us the youths, meanwhile, it is not every time the talk is a serious one but you are sure of and guaranteed of learning something vital while listening to ABSOL talk.

So, let’s get down to business. By the end of this talk, the following are the things you would have an additional understanding of:

Ø  Get to know about the reality of Life Inside NYSC and after NYSC from my perspective

Ø  The real reality after NYSC and My Story

Ø  How to avoid costly mistakes many have already made and many more.

     Just as we have it in Customer Service, at the point of customers buying your products, customers can be made two things, either a terrorist or loyal customer. However, irrespective of what they become after purchasing your product, it is all strictly dependent on the seller, company or the brand as the case may be.

The same thing is applicable here. Your reality after NYSC is decided by a lot of factors mostly responsible for by YOU and YOU alone. Though, no doubt, there are others which you actually have no power over.

What is life inside NYSC like? I am Oluwasola Abiola Elisha – ABSOL. I served with the Batch B Stream 2 of 2019 and of all places in Nigeria to serve, I served in Ekiti State. The reason my state code read EK/19B/….7 and you are about to listen to my story.

I won’t be dwelling so much on my NYSC story but I will be dwelling on those that made life after NYSC a bit less cumbersome. So let’s go.

Like every other Nigerian graduate, I got mobilized for the compulsory one year service. The mobilization news came at a time when I was already into the teaching profession at Leader College Nigeria.

Of course, like every other Nigerian, I needed to quit immediately and start earnest preparations. I am a stubborn, playful and crazily adventurous personality and as a result of those traits in me, I went against my mom’s fearful counsel on picking nearby locations for NYSC, I picked Jigawa, Kano, Cross Rivers and Ogun State out of “You must pick a place from the Southwest.

Fast forward, I got, posted to Ekiti. That felt like a punishment for me but it was a blessing in disguise. Indeed, God’s ways are not our ways, the reason our number one point of emphasis will be that you don’t leave God out of the things that you do. He should and must come first in everything that you, very important.  

Ekiti, here I come. Did everything possible in camp to get posted to the capital city where I am now presently enjoying my life the little way I can. But NYSC again decided to reason me dirty. I got posted to Aisegba Ekiti! A rural and interior area of no light and water.

That was where my hustling and survival spirit got ignited. There were no way in the world I could practice any of my entrepreneurial skills in Aisegba, not car wash, not home cleaning services, not even writing, don’t let us even mention event hosting. It was the time of my life when I had to give up on freelancing when I started missing deadlines as a result of poor electricity power supply which never happened before and would never have happened if in a better location of adequate infrastructural and social amenities.

To those still in NYSC, what are the things you should do while still in service and still kinda enjoying “free money?”

Yes, it was more like I practically lost everything upon getting to Aisegba. As outspoken and bold as I can be, when it comes to asking for financial aid or assistance, I can be irrationally shy. So having lost everything I can use to be generating income, I had to start thinking outside the box. One very important thing to note before we proceed is that please, to further make your life after NYSC life easy, please do not introduce yourself to a lifestyle you are either sure not sure you can sustain and maintain after service.  

I have always loved teaching, it gives me joy and this sense of expression of myself which I love and that is the number one thing you may need to adequately work upon during your service year. DISCOVER YOUR PASSION AND AREA OF INTEREST. Teaching became the only available demand in the rural community. They value education so much but they have little or no access so I felt, that was an opportunity to further expand my knowledge of teaching after all I have been posted to the location strictly to teach.

I started sourcing out for home lesson clients and it worked! I settled for one of the things I have passion for and the number one on the list for that matter – TEACHING. To the glory of God, there was a rapid expansion that made me even secure two classrooms from a nearby public school before COVID-19 did it blow on us.

Another thing you should do during NYSC which is very vital to your survival after NYSC is GETTING A SKILL. I am not even talking about SAED now, I am talking about you venturing into a kind of skill in line with the discovery that you have already done.

I already had many skills on me before venturing into the adventure of NYSC but I am a bit of one hell of a curious person and crazy lover of knowledge. I love to know! I wanted to stretch myself and build up my skills so I started by developing my existing skills before venturing into ones I never had.

Please as much as you can during your service year, GET INVOLVED in activities. Volunteer and network yourself. If eventually given the chance to serve as a result of your show of interest, please do it diligently and committedly.

I started getting involved and that with the help and grace of God, I found favour in the eyes of my LGI, Landlady, and PPA headmaster. Don’t be surprised, the lessons from each of them will be shared as well.

First, my engagements and involvement during general CDS got me recognized by my LGI and when WHO decided to come for a project at Gbonyin Local government, I was effortlessly recommended and got selected against all odds. I did not get that by just sitting during the CDS days, please. Don’t forget, heaven helps only those who help themselves. I ended up serving as an Independent Monitor for WHO in partnership with Ekiti State Government and at large, the federal government of Nigeria. The incentive was worth it no doubt but the long-term benefit of it is still being enjoyed by me even after NYSC. We are going there, wait for it.

Secondly, getting involved and display of interest in things got me recognized by my Landlady and that was when I started learning great lessons about life and above all, home management. They were not lessons learnt from books, they were real and practical. Much of them are still in my head.

And yes with my PPA headmaster, I learnt the basics of School Management and above all, I was able to use the period to boost my basic ICT skills. I volunteered to help in the ICT department for the period I was in school, I became responsible for typing and printing the exam questions which helped my multitasking skills. There are many things getting involved and showing interest brought me, both bad and good anyways but life itself is a risky business and you only get to enjoy it as you take the risks. I became the social director and even served as head of logistics for the execution of our set’s CDS Project work, the first of its kind in the community. So please, if you are here and still actively in service, don’t waste the period of time just flexing and cruising. I also cruised and flexed, I even taught some of the opposite sex friends some lessons in the other room, a discussion for another day though. But please get involved! It kind of builds you for the rainy days ahead in ways you will never believe.

Above all, still on getting a skill, I decided to take a professional certification course in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Omoooo, I have no regret I paid to learn that course. Trust me, the skills and certification are paying off big time right now. Please, get professionally certified in any area of your interest. Do your research and register with a recognized institute. I can only boldly speak of the International College of Safety and Management Professional (ICSMP). There are many more.

So after NYSC, what is the real reality and how do you face them?

We are in a system of he who knows who gets what. At least for the next decades and more, we all have to sadly embrace that reality. It is now left to us all to get ourselves connected and networked out. Don’t take any form of relationship for a joke. Make the best of every moment reality has decided to present you with.

There is a depressing stage we all must pass through especially when the reality of the question of WHAT NEXT? Boldly comes on you. Most times, this reality comes on one few months to the end of the program. I suffered mine but I had a crazy psychologist as a girlfriend then. Oyindamola Ajike went out of her way and fought really hard with everything she’s got to take me through that stage of “depression.” That was the period of time I got familiar with most psychological jargon. Rose was there for me all through, a babe and more indeed. She may have exed herself in my life for reasons only known to her, a breakfast I am still staggering to get back on my feet but surely, I owe her much and it is the reason I have kept on hanging around. No, she deserves all of the available accolades.

Meanwhile, reality after NYSC is a two-way thing, for some, their life after NYSC is settled even before they entered the camp. There are levels to these networking, connections and legging of a thing. The reason you should desist from comparing yourself and strictly focus on YOU and there are some of us that we actually have to climb that ladder of connections and networking ourselves. We practically have to build the legs. This message may not really make so much sense to the first category set of people but to those of us with short legs and little or no connections, then, kindly follow me as we delve into this together.

We had our Passing Out Parade (POP) on the 16^th day of July 2020. But before then, with the help of God, Rose and my many Mentors that will not give up on me, most especially my parents, I have been able to at least navigate my way for a start and the conclusion was that I was not going to go back home in Ife. I decided to stay back at my “Uncle’s” place here in Ado-Ekiti. I have a phobia of Lagos, so I did not even bother myself chasing opportunities at Lagos despite being qualified for some of the opportunities professionally. A very big part of me just does intentionally ignore opportunities from Lagos. I don’t mind any other location around the world o, but you see that Lagos? Let’s leave that for another day.

If you know me well, you will know that I create a family for myself wherever I find myself (an example of HOA). I make a family of people with the help of God and my human relations skills. So if I mention names such as Uncle, I am not referring to my blood relations.

The number one reality after NYSC that you need to embrace is that you should be ready to START SMALL. Don’t rush, it is a gradual process. The bitter truth is reality after NYSC is really a brutal one but if you can manage it well, you will survive the brutality beyond your imagination.

On no account should you settle for the statement of “I will rest a few months before I begin seeking opportunities” Please don’t!. Start immediately except you have a soft couch to land on, if not, please, don’t hesitate to start chasing opportunities. Just don’t ever remain idle.

I entered Ado-Ekiti, totally strange land to me on the same day of POP and the real reality finally came down on me right there in my Uncle’s house. Rose was always there to be talked to. She was never too busy to listen to me rant and talk nonsense. “Adeyemi calms down, okay so, what about…” I still remember vividly some of her words and they do give me thing goo bumps sometimes.

The first thing I did was to take a tour of the whole of my new environment. I walked practically every nook and cranny of Omisanjana. Having done that, I knew it was time to establish ABSOL VENTURES properly. I could no longer go back to freelancing fully as most of the clients already found alternatives. Oh Yes, just before I forget, after NYSC, no one actually sends you anymore. Nobody gives you money anymore, those who promised you jobs WILL disappoint you. Many will not pick your calls. Don’t blame them, most of them actually don’t have anything to offer at the moment, they are not being wicked. Younger ones will disrespect you, to the guys, your girlfriend may leave you. My own girlfriend did not leave me immediately though, blame not the young woman, time is never on their side.

So I started pasting my stickers all around. All of EKSUTH had my stickers then, there was hardly any house with a gate in Omisanjana that did not get my sticker. Well, it worked. Customers started coming in one after the other. Lack of capital will not let me set up properly so I settled for the home service pending the time there will be capital to set up ABSOL CAR WASH properly.

The ambitious I was not satisfied with the little changes coming in. I hate to be a burden to anyone, and I was already beginning to feel uncomfortable under my Uncle/helper’s roof. So I started walking around looking for possible vacancies in my area of career interest – Teaching. It was the time lockdown was just getting lifted. My hunting adventure worked, I secured teaching jobs at two different schools. Yea! Two different schools with different salary schemes. Of course, I failed other interviews at other schools as well or as people will say, I did not fail, an me no get leg. They were big schools you know. As I said, never be scared and afraid to start small, just be contented and keep pushing.

I comfortably picked the one that suit my interest. All of these happened between the 16^th day of July and Thursday 29^th of July when I entered my first class at LINKERS MODEL COLLEGE.

Many things have happened between then and now and the hustle continues. To the glory of God, at least now, I can lay claim to certain achievements and successful adventures. I am not where I want to be yet, but I give glory to God for how far I have come. The goal is just to never give up! That is my story so far. The journey continues.

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