Who Would Have Thought I'd Miss Being Chased by Soldiers?

I've been away from hive for a while and have hoarded this gist for far too long. Let's chat about it now.

So I had been craving adventure and I finally got it. Three months ago(August 2026), I got my call-up letter for the NYSC programme. While my father was sad that I was posted to Ondo state, I was excited that I was finally gonna travel 💃🏽 .

I've literally spent my whole life in Lagos so seeing this opportunity to leave my comfort zone and explore a new environment and culture made me so happy. I got even happier when I checked Google to see how long the trip from Lagos to Ondo would take. It was about 7–8 hours by road.

I packed my bags and left for the car park. Initially, I was frustrated cos I tried booking an Uber ride, but for some reason, there wasn't any available one. When I realized that time was against me, I had to use Danfo(public transport). The issue wasn't really using a public transport but my bag was quite heavy and I wanted something more convenient.

I finally got to the park and my family was there waiting for me. I'm glad I have a loving family. They all came together to see me off. I was almost embarrassed(just kidding) cos my family kept taking pictures and being lovey-dovey with me.

When the bus moved, I got a DM from my sister saying my mum was crying. My mother was already missing her only son. Lol.

My sister then sent videos to me, it showed the ladies that were sitting beside me in the bus then she was like:

Fine girls dey your bus o, better don't dull

We finally arrived at camp!

They searched our bags and we got in. I was so tired, I didn't even bother stressing myself with registration. I just got to the hostel and slept.

P.S. We were about 140 people in the room. Yeah, you heard me. LOL.

Day 1: Settling in The first night spent in Ikare camp wasn't so bad for me though. I had been in boarding school and also stayed in UNILAG hostels during my university days, so being in a new environment or uncomfortable environment wasn't something new or hard to adapt to.

I quickly got to the room and picked a bed with a fan(lol, that was the only working fan in that large room). I also hustled for a position with easy access to the door because I'm quite a security -conscious person. I wanted a space close to an exit and with good ventilation.

The first person I met in the room(Adefarati Hostel) was Mancho.(The guy on glasses)

This guy is the funniest person I met at Ikare. He literally had a twisted mind. He was infamous in Adefarati Hostel cos he gave advice that could put you in deep shit if you decide to follow his words literally 😭😹.

I would be sleeping and when I wake up, I'd see guys surround my bed, they were paying deep attention to the things he said, they literally turned my bed to his office 😹.

Day 2: The bigu! The first night spent there was great, but everything changed when they sounded the bigu the next morning. The sound was the most annoying thing in camp.

It's the moment you decide to sleep, that's when the bigu gets sounded and immediately the soldiers swarm in to chase everyone out to the parade ground.

SAED 😭😭

SAED lectures was the most boring thing in camp. The five-hour lectures was really tiring. Although the practical sessions were pretty good. I picked up barbing!

The View

So this is Ikare Akoko Nysc Camp. I just loved that everything looked so natural. The mountains, cloud, the clean air. Everything was just perfect.

Every morning, I would just stare and admire what God had created.

Chess in camp

@stayoutoftherz @samostically @chesscommunity

Something soo interesting happened while I was in camp. I came across some random guys with a chessboard so I decided to approach them and we played a bit.

After a few hours of moving pieces around the chessboard, I became friends with Olaf and Kabiru.

A few days, we decided to use the Lichess platform to play some games instead of the board as we usually did.

That was when I realized that I and one of these guys had actually played chess against each other on Lichess about two years ago!

It was a very funny coincidence. Who would have thought someone you've randomly played chess online with, you would accidentally meet in a place like this.

The world is actually small. Chess lovers, this is why its good to always be nice in the chats. You never can tell where you would meet that random chess player.

Have you guys ever been in such situation too? please share if you have.

Friends In Camp

Everyone, meet terrorist.

I gave her the special name because she was so troublesome. 😹

Omodunni was pretty fun to be with. I hate that things changed after camp but "it is what it is"

UNILAG Connect

It was really nice to see familiar faces and also converse with people then find out that you attended the same university.

So this is my meal ticket in camp. I ate literally all the food served in the kitchen, LOL. A lot of people complained the food was bad, but I feel its quite edible. Being in a regimented place made me understand that I wasnt eating right in the outside world. I always prioritized work and hardly ate. But in camp, I was served three square meal, when last did I eat like that 😭😭