Just as there are graduates among graduates, there are also ‘corpers’ among ‘corpers’ and the ‘Bayelkopa’ – corps member serving in Bayelsa State is a distinguished figure who stretches to his full height and stands shoulders high above her contemporaries. Before getting provoked to shove this piece aside, just hold your peace, let me tell you why.
Bayelsa State is an admixture of
contrasting variables. For instance, the state is blessed with so much money
and so much water; whilst the former is in less circulation, the latter is in
abundance. This, among other factors contributes significantly to the
exceptionality of the Bayelkopa. Due to the dynamic and difficult terrain of
Bayelsa State, the Bayelkopa is naturally faced with mountainous challenges in
his first few months of resumption for national service. Some of these
challenges include the fear of spending hours on a speedboat to go across the
Atlantic Ocean heading for an island to serve the nation; challenges of poor
allowance amidst high living standard and so on. Funny enough, these multi –
faceted coefficients of distraction start threatening the Bayelkopa right from
when he gets his call up letter! This is the period where the boys pack up and
seek greener pastures around their comfort zones via redeployment, leaving the
true men on stage. But before the service year expires, the Bayelkopa who has
endured the race to the finish line can boast of being armed to the teeth with
first class intuition on practical ways to turn waste to wealth and to mine
wine from even swine.
At different times during his/her
service year, every Bayelkops takes up different roles; these include the
Bayelkopa as a teacher, as an entrepreneur, as a manager/administrator/leader
and as a counsellor. He would pass for the proverbial ‘jack of all trades...’,
but in this case, master of all. All these roles expose raw creativity and
leave the Bayelkopa better than he/she was and invariably shoots them far ahead
of their contemporaries in other states if the testimony of ex-Bayelkopa is
anything to go by.
The Bayelkopa as a Teacher: Teachers
they say are readers and readers are leaders. This is the first add – on for
most Bayelkopas as they are sent to schools to build Nigeria within the four
walls of classrooms. The teaching profession builds a viable foundation for
clarity of thoughts/rationalizations and breeds consciousness in the teacher.
These attributes are basically fundamental for leaders and managers of human
and material resources; little wonder the President of this country and many
other key public office holders one held chalks to the board in classrooms. The
Bayelkopa is on the queue. While other states post corps members to choice
offices with maximum comfort and less creativity, Bayelsa State ensures that
about 98% of Bayelkopas are deployed to schools, to build leaders and
leadership in them.
Bayelkopa as an entrepreneur: Unlike
other states where corps members earn good money effortlessly from their places
of primary assignments, the Bayelkopa is posted to a school where most often,
he may even have to contribute part of his own meager pay to uplift the school.
But one advantage he has is the fact that school hours elapse as early as 2pm
thus leaving him with time to engage in other personal ventures. In this light,
most Bayelkopas explore their creativities by tapping into the virginity of the
green glory land Bayelsa. Corps members in this state do all forms of dignified
entrepreneurial ventures ranging from communication businesses through
retailing to supply of goods and execution of contracts related to their field
of study. The ability to identify a need and provide it is the secret of
financial breakthrough. Corps members smile home with the meager allowances
they officially collect in Bayelsa State because they actually turn into a seed
that meets basic need of the public, thereby creating a multi – facetted stream
of income there from. This is the major reason why it is said that ex –
bayelkopas hold sway over the economic climate and entrepreneurship base of
Bayelsa State.
Bayelkopa as an administrator/Manager:
the Bayelkopa’s administrative and management skill is seen in the execution of
CDS project which form the NYSC secondary assignment. In Bayelsa state,
projects executed by corps members on individual basis range from construction
of blocks of classrooms to water supply facilities, Construction of public
toilets, clinics, libraries, laboratories, bus stops, donation of health
materials to deserving beneficiaries, donation of books and writing materials
to schools, computers and computer accessories, provision of free medical care
services, mass literacy campaigns, public enlightenment and sensitization
rallies, women and youth empowerment via skill acquisition trainings and a host
of other laudable initiatives. It takes an astute manager of resources and a
skilful administrator to be able to initiate, plan, execute and maintain these
kinds of projects. The Bayelkopa indeed deserves kudos for this.
Which one do we say, which do we leave;
is it the bayelkopa’s role as a counselor and adviser to his students and the
staff in his place of primary assignment, or is it about his humility in
service by accepting to risk his life through the daunting waves of the ocean
to serve his nation in a community where he losses contact with his kind of
people and may not even see a tarred road for a whole of one year? Other states
may have daring situations similar to these, but believe it or not, this deal
is real and is definitely a different ball game.
The Bayelkopa having hazarded himself
through these cataclysmic phenomena is a ready – made material loaded with the
capacity to transform the fortune of any establishment to unimaginable heights.
In addition to service and humility, he has the invaluable virtues of
resourcefulness, industriousness and adaptability.
By
Salifu Emmanuel
