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NYSC: REDUCE YOUR SPENDING AT CAMP

Life at the NYSC camp is very exciting. One of the most exciting places to visit is the camp market. NYSC camp markets are filled with lots of entertainment joints where corps members can visit to relax after the day’s activities.

NYSC camp markets are filled with almost all that young people enjoy. From food and drinks to parties all can be found in the camp market. I even heard from an unreliable source that cheap sex could also be found at the camp market if you look hard enough. Every evening scores of NYSC corps members besiege the camp market to have their own piece of the action.

However, these corps members while spending their money buying the good things in camp forget that camping is just the beginning of the whole NYSC service scheme. They forget that they still have 11 more months of spending to take care of. In fact most NYSC corps members forget that the first month after camping is the most capital intensive of the 12 months programme.

While I was in camp I saw corps members who got seriously broke. Some of these corps members did not have enough money to commute from the NYSC camp to their places of primary assignment. I also know of corps members who have to live on the benevolence of others until our October allowance was paid in mid November.

My advice to prospective NYSC corps members is that they should be responsible spenders. They should remember that while in camp they are entitled to only about 12 000 Naira and they should not expect any other payment until about 6 weeks after leaving the NYSC camp.

Another way that NYSC corps members waste money is by paying other people to do chores that ordinarily they should be able to do themselves. While in camp some corps members pay other people to do their laundry; wash plates; sweep their corners, etc. Some of these corps members spend between 200 and 700 naira weekly on these chores.

I will advice all prospective NYSC corps members that don’t wish to run into any cash crunch during their NYSC service year to save toward the service year and to spend whatever money they have judiciously.