.AT THE END...

Yes! The one year service has come to an end.

If you look back to your service year and all you could give account of is only a few dough in your pocket, few extra things to take home and other
... small items given to you by those who considered your service year as suffering while your other colleagues serving somewhere else can boast of owning a car, a good job at hand and above all, a house of their own during the course of service.
You wondered, and ask yourself, where did I get it wrong? Am I not able? Is the world against me?

Let me remind you that the ways of men are not the ways of God.
In order to accomplish great things in life, focus is needed. The fact that a friend is ahead of you doesn’t make you less n life.

What will make your friend look greater than you is when you lose focus of yourself and the purpose of your
existence. We accomplish more by focus than by fitness. In most cases, the man that is best suited for a place does not always fit in. it is the man that focuses on its very possibility that makes an art of both his work and his life. You must be that man.

You must remember that the time-set for every man’s success is different from each other. Do not expect that you will always have easy sailing. Parts of your journey are likely to be rough, don’t let the rough places put you out of commission.

Keep on with the journey. Just the way the weather of a storm is, so also you have to show the world what material you are made of.

Do not let your mistake of the past weigh you down. Think of it as a mere incident that has to be overcome before you can reach your goal. You are made for a purpose and you will fulfill that purpose only if you stay focused in life.

As you prepare for life after service, do not lose focus and you will attain greater heights.

OSIBANJO OLUREMI OMOWALE
BY/11C/0341

LOOK WITHIN

In Nigeria, people always have sundry reasons why they have not attained the heights they crave for in their careers, yet they are oblivious of the opportunities that abound in their immediate environment. Our higher institutions produce thousands of graduates yearly who hinge their hopes on securing jobs that are not secure after their service year as corps members.

As you prepare to go into the labour market after your one year service to the nation, you can look within and create a job for yourself before securing your dream job. Also, as members of a Community Development Service (CDS) Group, we should not always be discouraged by the difficulties we encounter as we embark on our personal and group Community Development Service Projects. With more focus and determination, you will be amazed by your resourcefulness as a group or an individual. What many people consider to be insurmountable problems are usually gems of opportunities waiting to be packaged into ideas that would bless other people. There are cases of corps members who turned prevailing situations including needs into projects and sources of income in their places of primary assignment.  Even your hobby can as well turn out to be a huge source of income.

Here are some instances of people who were oblivious of the huge opportunities within their immediate environment/reach:

1. The Jobless Boss: A man who was sacked from his place of work was complaining to everybody that his career had been ruined. He packed his car in his compound and was looking for employment all over the place. After searching fruitlessly for a non-existing job for about six months, one of his mentors, a pastor pointed to him the wisdom in turning his car into a taxi cab. He heeded the advice and at the time of writing this report, he boasts more than eight cars in his fleet.

2. The Golden Ranch: A man from California in the Unites States of America, who owned a ranch, read that gold has been discovered in Southern California in 1847. And so he sold his ranch and started off to hunt for gold. His successor put a mill on the little stream on the farm and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the raceway of the mill into the house and placed it before the fire to dry. As the sand was falling through the little girl’s fingers, a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever discovered in California; and the man who wanted the gold had sold his ranch and gone away , never to return.

3. The Old Farm: A farmer who had lived on the same farm all his life, but desperately craved a change. So he decided to sell the old place and buy another more to his liking. He lists the farm with a real estate agent, who looked over the property and prepared an ad for the newspapers. The agent read to the farmer this very flattering description: “Beautiful farm house, ideal location, excellent barn, good pasture, fertile soil, up-to-date equipment, well-bred stock. Near town; near church; near school with good neighbours”. ‘Wait a minute’, said the farmer. ‘Read that again’. And again the description was read. ‘Changed my mind’, said the farmer. ‘I won’t sell again. All my life I’ve been looking for a place just like that!’

All that you are looking for is within. It has always been there. Dig deep and you will be shocked that it has always been there. The key is in your hands. Use it wherever you find yourself or whatever the situation might be during and after your service year. Success is ours as we serve our fatherland!

ONODJE ANDREW O.

BY/11C/1950  

AFTER NYSC, WHAT NEXT?

The ultimate question is this, what next? For most of us, we have a lot of questions to answer such as; do I stay back in this state or go back to my base? How sure am I to find work back home? Now that I am not entitled to accommodation, how do I pay for it? My parents have told me I’m an adult and I should take care of myself, can I cope with these meager salaries? Who do I live with and can I live alone? Is it safe? When do I get married and is my soul mate here? Endless questions flood our minds as we near the date when we are told to officially 'pass out' of the NYSC programme. The truth is this, to get a good head start at our after-NYSC life, we must answer these questions.

Staying back is a big decision and is dependent on so many factors. One, the work environment. Is the pay adequate to take care of all the bills, including welfare and occasional replenishing of wardrobes? Are the people in the office friendly and willing to help you acclimatize to recent changes both in your office duties and your status as a citizen? Is the area safe? Can you afford accommodation for yourself now that you are no longer a corper? These questions must be answered and you must answer them without sentiment because when it comes to work and money, emotions are never involved.

A life partner has become one of life's hidden treasures and for most of us, we are impatient to find it. Everyone just wants a map pointing to a direction shouting, 'there it is!' Unfortunately, when it comes to issues of the heart, patience is required. Some of us found our life partners during the NYSC programme. Most of who did had our weddings during the NYSC programme since the scheme provided financial assistance to ease the stress of the two lovebirds involved. Now there will be no financial assistance; just you, your pay from work and your guts to face the world. Would it be easy? Not in the least. However, for those of us who are Christians, it is advisable that we leave such matters to God and allow Him to direct our footsteps. The eye can be deceived, but the spirit of God in you, cannot. Do not make finding a soul mate a reason for staying back. Some of us have this notion, of men or women in a particular area being more marriageable than others. Even if this is true, if both of you are to be together, the Lord will bring it to pass in His time. Of all issues to take into your hands, marriage is definitely not one of them.

The issue of safety, cost of living and availability of jobs is also an important factor for those considering staying back in a state? If unsafe, can you cope with the amount of hostility, where there is a high cost of living will you be able to make up for it and in the first place, are there jobs available back here? Remember, that while answering these questions, you must be objective and where there is a question mark as regards safety, you should project into the future to see if things would be for the better. However, for the sake of simplicity, let us all look at these factors in terms of the present. Do they favor you now?

For those of us who do not want work for anyone but already have a business we’d like to tow into, bravo to you. However you also have some questions answer. Have you conducted a feasibility study and if so, does it favor your proposed business idea? In the event of failure of the business, where does money to pay off debts come from? Will your target audience be satisfied with this new product? What about sustainability and cost of embarking on a business venture of that sort? All these will be answered in your business plan, and you MUST possess one.

What about those who are leaving and going back to their base states. It would be much easier to take in if there were jobs waiting for such category of people. If you are one of them, then you had better start building your network base and singing your name in the ears of those who do or do not want to hear, as the fact is, you've been absent from the scene for nearly one year. You are now your own advertiser.

Living apart from parent's donations to our welfare package can be quite disturbing. Some of us have lived on our parents our whole lives, the rest of us have parents that have been reducing their quotas as a way of hinting us that we are near the adult stage of life and others, have gotten an early start in living on the labor of their own hands. For the first set of people, this would be the hardest, as they most times lack self-discipline and budgeting skills. As you switch over from corper to adult, you must imbibe the habits of regulating your spending and planning your costs. If not, you would wind up stranded, starving and savaged. In other words, you'll be a total wreck.

After-NYSC, what next? It’s a big question but it is advisable that it should be answered at least two weeks to the passing out day. So to those of who have passed out or are looking to exit the NYSC scheme, I ask; got a game plan?

CHINONSO DANIELLA EDEH

BY/11B/0665