Notes from SKO

Between October 28, 2015 and October 6, 2016 I completed my national service year in the National Youth Service Corps.

For my service year, I was called up to serve in Sokoto State, a border state in northwestern Nigeria that is the historical home of the Sokoto Caliphate and still serves a key seat of Islamic learning.

Upon completing the orientation programme in Wamakko, I was posted to Government Day Secondary School, Gidan Dare, Sokoto North LGA, where I was assigned to teach the English Language to JSS 3 students.

During my time in Sokoto, I planned to write fairly regularly about my experience in the NYSC programme, living in the historic city of Sokoto, and teaching teenagers in a predominantly Muslim culture.

I kept track of my posts on this page to make it easy for readers to follow my progress through the programme.

Orientation Camp

Prospective Youth Corpers (Otondos) in Wamakko Permanent Orientation Camp, Sokoto State.

• Notes from Wamakko, Sokoto — Part 1
• Notes from Wamakko, Sokoto — Part 2

Me and a few of my roommates in Wamakko. We called our room Morocco.

Service Year

The roundabout in front of the Sultan’s Palace, Sokoto North LGA.

• Relocated and Settling a, b, and c.
• The Devil wants my leg…

Some students in JSS 1. I taught their class in November to get a sense of what January would bring.

• Teacher Chronicles, Part One
• Teacher Chronicles, Part Two
• Teacher Chronicles, Part Three

Watching Certainty and Yusuf, fellow 2015 Batch B corpers, invigilate a Civic Ed test. We try to help each other out with the large classes like JSS 1 and JSS 2A.

• Teacher Chronicles, Part Four
• A Window of Opportunity: Part 1
• A Window of Opportunity: Part 2
• Teacher Chronicles, Part Five (coming in Novemeber 2016)

Passing Out Parade

• A Foreign Student’s Guide to NYSC (coming in December 2016)

Thank you for reading my article. Feel free to recommend it if you’ve enjoyed reading it. If you have questions, thoughts, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a comment.

And, if you want to get more frequent updates from my NYSC experience, you can check out my Instagram feed.