Diary of A Lagos State Corper

NYSC Swearing-in Ceremony

Day 2: Tuesday 14th June, 2016

I woke up at 3.00Am to shower and be prepared for the day. At 4.45Am, the wake up trumpet was blown and the lady in the OBS stand kept announcing, IF YOU ARE STILL IN THE BATHROOM, YOU ARE WRONG! IF YOU ARE STILL IN YOUR HOSTEL, YOU ARE WRONG!! IF YOU ARE WALKING, YOU ARE WRONG!!! DOUBLE UP! DOUBLE UP!! DOUBLE UP!!!
It was an ordinary day with registration, hours and hours of drills morning, afternoon and evening at the parade ground in preparation for the Swearing-in ceremony of NYSC batch A stream 2 corp members.

Day 3: Wednesday 15th June, 2016 (NYSC Swearing-in Ceremony)

Imaobong that wakes up at 7.00AM woke up with at 3.00AM. My bones and joints were protesting but I knew I had no choice. Today is the day I was going to be the end of my being a Prospective Corp member and become a gentleman Corp Member.

I got ready for the day and waiting for the annoying trumpet to sound. I looked forward to physical exercise and man-o-war swag. The most fun part was singing Man-O-War songs like
1) "Them go born mumu,
them go born mumu
if Corper marry Corper
them go born mumu. "

2. "This is the place I wanted to be o (4x)
Oh I want to be a Corper (2x)
Oh Oh oh I want to be a Corper
This is the place I wanted to be " (Corper and Ex-corpers can relate #winks).
After the morning exercises, we were excused to go prepare for our Swearing-in ceremony.

At 9.00AM, we came out prepared and snapping so many selfies, ready to be Gentlemen Corp Members. We stood AT EASE! AT ATTENTION! AT EASE!! AT ATTENTION!! under the rain (rain choosed that day to drizzle #sighs #evilLagosWeather) for 3 hours waiting for the Governor of Lagos State His Excellency Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to come so that the ceremony will continue.

Me:(Praying softly) Lord, please wherever His Excellency is, hasten his foot steps. My heels are killing me Lord but it still felt like a day has passed. I wished I could fake fainting so that Red Cross will take me to the clinic to sleep off this Swearing-in nonsense.

All of a sudden there was commotion, soldiers were standing at attention, NYSC officials were running towards the gate. Hold and behold it was the big oga's arrival ably represented by his Deputy, Dr Idiat Oluranti Adebule.

Me: Thank you Jesus. But I wanted to see Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.

Overall Parade Commander started shouting commands here and there(#lol) but after what seemed like 5hours, it was time for the Swearing-in Oath. I repeated everything except where it's stated that WE SWEAR TO PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE and am like what!?? ULTIMATE PRICE! Hmmm.

At last we reached the fun part:
Now we remove head-dress...remove head-dress.
Three happy cheers to the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode,
Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurray.
Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurray.
Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurray.
Now we replace head-dress...replace head-dress.

Then we sang the two important anthems in the NYSC orientation camp ; The National Anthem and the NYSC ANTHEM.

NATIONAL ANTHEM
Arise, O compatriots
Nigeria's call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom
Peace and unity.

THE NYSC ANTHEM
Youths obey the clarion call
Let us lift our nation high
Under the sun or in the rain
With dedication and selflessness
Nigeria's ours, Nigeria we serve.

We waited for the Deputy Governor to leave before we were officially addressed as Gentlemen Corp Members.

It was a beautiful day only when you remove the 3 hours standing "UNDER THE RAIN".
4.00PM those Soldiers didn't spare us, they still called us out for drills. Uuggghhhh #RedAngryFace. . Wanted to go back home #tearsoftiredness. But all in all I was a bonafide corp member, HALLELUJAH!!!