#EnuguCorperSeries: My Enugu Experience
by Dauda Suliyat Oluwafunmilayo
My childhood involved growing up in a Western Nigerian environment dominated by a large Igbo presence.
Due to the number of Igbo people in the area, we could easily purchase diverse Igbo cuisine like Abacha from hawkers, and the popular Igbo delicacy “Okpa” was my stepmother’s favorite breakfast.
In the majority of the local schools, more than half of the student body were Igbo.
I belonged to a clique of friends popularly referred to as “the fantastic five” where I was the sole Omo Oduduwa (child of Oduduwa), the rest were Igbo.
Growing up, I only got to mingle with Yoruba/Muslim people when my family worshipped at the mosque.
Fo all the instances when my brothers and I quarreled with our Igbo friends, it was never about ethnic/religious differences and they were always peaceably resolved.
This was my childhood in Ago Okota; a place where we all existed in tribal and religious harmony, at odds with the narrative of many parts of Nigeria.
I have always heard stories about life in the East and the difficulties residing Yoruba Muslims tend to face.
After my graduation from university, I had decided to avoid being posted to any Eastern state for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to these stories.
My preference and focus were on Northern states like Kano or Katsina where I was certain my dark complexion and religion would allow me easily adapt and assimilate.
For prospective corp members, the NYSC portal grants the opportunity to pick one state in four different regions each.
My four choices were:
- Kaduna State, as I was inspired by the Youths oriented works of the Governor, El-Rufai.
- Osun State, which was familiar and close to home.
- Niger State, since it was close to Ilorin where I had just finished my University Education and;
- Enugu State, because of a book I read titled “Naija Single Girl” where the main character had narrated her experiences as a corp member in the Enugu camp at Awgu.
Yet, when the posting decisions became public and I was posted to Enugu. I surprisingly had mixed feelings.
On one hand, I was excited about the opportunity to spread my wings, live and explore in a place far from home. On the other, I was filled with trepidation as I had never lived or visited the area before. All I knew about Enugu were anecdotal stories and digital posts.
Like the typical Nigerian mother, my mum worried and made enquiries among family, friends, and neighbors about Enugu. She got a lot of positive feedback about the beauty of the state and the welcoming attitude of the people which helped her stay calm.
Nairaland was helpful in my preparations for tips about the city and camp life.
I spent three weeks at the camp which allowed me to network with fellow corps members even as I tried to draw comparisons between my camp experiences at Awgu and those from Naija Single Girl.
During my time in camp, family members tried numerous routes to pursue my redeployment back to Lagos with a finance firm where I was to resume an internship in November after camp. Despite their best efforts, their attempts proved abortive.
Meanwhile, my stay at the Awgu camp was proving to be a mixed bag of experiences with the positive slightly outweighing the negative.
I particularly dreaded the hills at Awgu camp which we had to climb twice a day on our way back to the camp from the parade ground.
After camp ended, I went home for the three weeks break given to all youth corpers to get some rest and make preparations for the forthcoming service year.
I left Lagos for Enugu to officially start my NYSC on the 6th of January. By now, I was prepared to take in all Enugu had to offer and ensure I helped make a positive impact wherever I found myself.
My new outlook was inspired by a conversation I had with my mentor, Olanipekun Febisola who helped me understand that life wasn’t always about getting what I wanted, rather, it was about making the best of any situation I found myself in.
She further impressed on me the opportunity I had been granted to visit a new place and impact young lives through my new Place of Primary Assignment (PPA). This helped foster my determination to go to Enugu, share what I know and expose myself to all available opportunities.
I was officially posted to the only Islamic secondary school in Enugu located at Uwani, Enugu south LGA where I was to teach commerce and accounting.
As common in most public schools, the school did not have a permanent teacher for the subjects and relied on corpers to teach the students.
I was particular about what to contribute to the school so I made sure that in addition to teaching, I helped mentor my students on the importance of school and their future goals.
I got to meet and develop a cordial relationship with the director of the school who was Igbo Muslim — something of a novelty as I had never actually met an Igbo person before him.
I have always heard about the power of social media, particularly twitter in fostering change. I joined twitter in 2013 but did not become active on the platform until 2018, around the time I started youth service.
Several women were and continue to inspire me on twitter namely; my mentor Febisola who has carved out a niche on social media around preparing for interviews, choosing a career path et cetera, Moechievious the popular international lawyer and Bren of “moments with Bren” with her tweets and links for digital opportunities and scholarships.
Initially, my timeline consisted mainly of Islamic tweets but after a conversation with her, I learned to refine my timeline.
I first searched for anything related to Enugu and followed the most prominent handles like @coalcity_connect which frequently posted about Enugu.
With a little trial and error, I had a timeline for my taste and began interacting with them.
Interacting with coal city connect led me to make the acquaintance of Mr. Edozie, a social activist who was interested in issues affecting the girl child particularly the distribution of free sanitary pads to girls from low-income backgrounds.
As this was one of my areas of interest, I volunteered to join his work as his passion for the project was infectious and after raising some money and buying sanitary pads, we went to some schools in the area to share them and educate the students.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to due to administrative bureaucracies from the schools. I ended up using the access I had as a teacher to bring the event to my official PPA school and another located within Enugu East Local Government Area.
I had planned to attend the ONE Event when it held at the University of Illorin but sadly, I was already in Lagos when it held.
Shortly after I moved to Enugu, I got a mail invite for the Enugu ONE event taking place at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, UNEC.
As it was just a #30 bus ride from my abode, I decided to attend.
During the event, I got to listen to guest speakers Iheanyi Igboko and Ese Okereka talk on the panel session moderated by Ebere Okoye.
I also shared my views on the topic “transforming the education sector”.
After the event, Ese asked for my mail and invited me to the ongoing exhibition at the Center for Memories and their monthly distinguished speaker lecture: NkataUmuIbe.
I was impressed at my first experience of the Nkata Umu Ibe event and became committed to attending monthly for it allowed me to immerse myself deeply into the Igbo culture and learn about their crafts and history.
Listening to people like Patrick Okigbo speak so passionately about the opportunities available for the youths in the South-East and how to properly utilize these opportunities to add value to their lives and the community around them gave me a broader perspective.
Despite living with Igbo people from childhood, this exposure to their history and values was new to me.
For the first time, I was in a gathering with Igbo in their own “home ground” where they did not have to be nice to me, and they still were.
They were deliberate about youth issues, passionate about adding value to the lives of anyone interested in learning and building up the youth.
And above all, they treated me and everyone who came with merit, as long as you come willing to learn and contribute, you would be treated with respect and welcomed.
On my first day there, despite my head covering I was invited to sit in front and was made welcome afterward by the program conveners.
With all my fears about not being accepted because of my tribe and religion dispelled, I threw myself into the work wholeheartedly.
New converts can be overzealous and I was no different, I became a core ambassador for the Centre, going so far as to question Igbo people living in Enugu if they had ever visited the center for memories and motivating those who had yet to visit.
My attendance at these events exposed me to different speakers knowledgeable in fields like Technology, Investment, Governance, Education, Leadership, etc.
With the knowledge that I would call Enugu ‘home’ for at least nine months after I first got here, I decided to make an active contribution to the state while I was here.
Even when I still assumed I would be treated differently because of my hijab, I followed the teaching of my religion which preaches against jumping to conclusions and making assumptions about others.
I approached everyone I met here with no tribal bias and was rewarded with the friendliness from even strangers I met in public transport who sometimes paid for my trip.
Of course, in every society, there are always exceptions and when the odd person stared at me strangely, I smiled and waved at them in return.
In my time here, I participated in the Ogbete market march organized to raise awareness and protest against the groping and sexual harassment, women in Enugu and throughout Nigeria continue to face when they go to markets.
At the Ogbete market march, I was privileged to meet Juliet Kego whom I had always admired from twitter but never met before then, that day I got to see that as she talked the talk with her tweets, she was also ready to back them up and walk the walk as well.
During the market march, I saw some men walk in solidarity with the women against the issue and many others were also against the march.
I also got the opportunity to also see just how big Ogbete Market truly is.
I also volunteered with the Town Criers Initiative whose advocacy work focused on the achievement of the SDGs as well as participating in YALI Enugu programs.
Whenever I made updates on my WhatsApp and social media platforms about an event I was attending in Enugu, my friends from home and school would call me and ask what my Igbo name was, or make jokes about whether I was already dating an Igbo man to be so involved with the Igbo community.
Every time, my response would always be that the people of Enugu had been welcoming to me and for them to let go of any bias, I would happily participate in their events.
As a corps member, I took part in the 2019 electoral process, as it provided an opportunity to earn extra money and gain firsthand knowledge of the electoral process.
My family, especially my mum worried and called me several times with pleas for me to be careful because of certain false assumptions they hold about the East.
I worked as the Assistant Presiding Officer (APO1) at Carter Primary School, Ward 12 and saw how Hausa and Fulani women could be active members of Eastern political parties.
At the end of the election voting, everyone got together and shared Okpa and drinks, regardless of party affiliation.
At that point, I wondered where people got and continue to spread stories of modern ethnic wars.
Or were we been lied to by social media?
Was my situation different from that of others?
Or to quote the state governor Gburugburu, popular campaign slogan, could it be because “ Enugu state is in the hands of God”
Living in Enugu for NYSC made me happy, improved my network and perspectives towards life and work.
I will always be grateful for my time here.
