It is required of every Nigerian graduate to embark on a one year national service programme handled by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). This programme has been designed to make Nigerian graduates from universities and polytechnics serve in designated locales within the country for a year.

Majority of corps members have the notion that the service year is for them to relax, explore and enjoy life in other communities for a year. That’s not a bad idea if, at the end of the year, they don’t return home broke, helpless, hapless and jobless. They come off with gloomy experiences of how unfavourable the country had been to graduates.

If you are about serving or currently serving, it is better you make the most of this ‘free’ time. It doesn’t matter whether you serve in a remote village or a buzzling city, a federal ministry or a private store. What you decide to do or not to do would later work in your favour or otherwise. The choice is yours!

PRODUCTIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD DO IN YOUR SERVICE YEAR

ARRIVE EARLY

Including this may sound strange to some people but I must tell you that it has some advantages. After you’ve got your call-up letter, you’ll definitely know the state you’ll be serving. Upon knowing that and the date in which camp opens, it’s better you set a plan towards arriving at the camp earlier. Early arrival would make you able to settle matters relating to registration and especially accommodation thus reducing unnecessary stress. You could be able strategise and probably start laying the foundation to being posted to your destination of choice within the state. It has a number of other advantages depending on you and your plans for the year.

ACQUIRE A SKILL

We are now in a skill-dependent world. Every enterprising youth today has one skill or another that sets him ahead of others. While at the camp and in your host community, there are a whole lot of avenue to build your capacity. The choice you have to make in determining the right skill might not necessarily be dependent on your career goal. Though, acquiring information technology skills are most paramount, skills relating to taking care of day-to-day living too are also very relevant. It could be ‘little’ skills like; barbing, sewing and car repairs. You wouldn’t want to underrate any skill to succeed. Keep updating the skills you have. The jottings you made during the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) lectures would be handy here as guides. Use your service year to acquire an array of skills!

TAKE A PROFESSIONAL COURSE

To up their chances in the labour market, prospective employees are now required to have some professional certification in their various fields. Such certification might not be generally applicable to all professions. Find out if there is any professional course people in your field undertake and try using out of the limited resources you have to invest in this. In addition to that, if you have no educational background in management, consider enrolling for some management course with the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) or other related bodies.This list of professional bodies would be useful. Raise your profile with a professional course during your service year!

BUILD CONNECTIONS

You wouldn’t want to underrate anyone since you don’t know their background. Right from the camp, there are a lot of people you’ll come in contact with. There are a score of achievers waiting to obtain that NYSC Certificate to make headways in life. Take your time to respect each and every person. You never can tell where you’ll meet that person you dishonoured in future. Let people always see the positive side of you. If it means famzing everybody, do that for its virtues.

TRAVEL WISELY

Some great man once said that travelling is part of education. Take advantage of your service year to visit memorable places around you. As a tourist, you get to learn beyond the book. The service year, in the first place, is meant to engender understanding among Nigerians of diverse cultures and experiences. By travelling wisely, I mean purposeful travelling here. If you must travel, do so to fruitful ends. Consider the benefits you can attain before embarking on any journey. You don’t just travel for the sake of travelling. For instance, if you are interested in the academia, it wouldn’t be bad visiting some educational institution around to see possible placement opportunity. Travelling for leisure isn’t a bad idea too. Learn through travelling!

MANAGE YOUR TIME

From waking up to sleeping, every of your daily activity should be well managed. Preparing a daily timetable of your schedule wouldn’t be a bad idea. Remember to plan ahead of time and you would be good for it. If you don’t have some plan for your day, some other people would just fix you into their own plans. Plan your time. Work with the plan. Avoid distractions and forge a higher path for yourself.

CUT SPENDING COSTS

You know your allawee as a corper wouldn’t be sufficient for your survival. Don’t you? Why not consider cutting spending costs? You could be fond of borrowing money towards the end of the month but know that that can’t be forever. You’d better prioritize what you spend money on and cultivate the habit of saving for the rainy day. Click here to read tips on saving money. Spend wisely!

MAKE SOME MONEY

Apart from the monthly allowance paid by the Federal and/or the State Government, work on generating money via other means. There are many ways to make money during your service year. To some, it is their skills they monetise while others, it is their academic knowledge. Home schooling wouldn’t be a bad idea to those posted to the urban centres where such services are needed. In the rural centres, your host community could be benevolent to give you some piece of land on lease. Go into agriculture and make some dough. Click here to read this article that guides on how to make money during the service year. See any other opportunity around you and convert it into a money-making venture.

GET A JOB

That’s it! It is the dream of every corper to be gainfully employed after the service year. You can realise that dream from your state of primary assignment. Having a good disposition at your Place of Primary Assignment sets you ready by the work place. Your attitude of punctuality, respect, diligence and professionalism could land you some recommendation to be offered some job around. What are you waiting for? Start making the most of your service year!

BY: Abdulssalam Amoo

SOURCE: http://tinyurl.com/mamyt5d