Getting married during your NYSC program

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Should a corper get married or at least get engaged during their NYSC program? It's your choice really as it can be really tempting for some people to just want to get married to someone they've fallen in love with during their National Youth Service programme.

During the NYSC, many young Nigerians from different universities and higher institutions are first camped together at a single location in a state for up to 3 weeks during which they'll be engaged in an orientation. Even as the days roll by at the NYSC camp, many of them may end up getting attracted and even falling in love with fellow corpers even though they've just met. While some corpers don't feel it's not wise to get into a relationship to another corper no matter how beautiful or handsome the person is, others may feel that it's probably their best opportunity to move to the next level in life which is getting married or a least building a long term relationship.

Can you form a strong relationship with another person you just met during the NYSC? Should you? Well, I think the best thing is to trust God first and if that's what you are looking for, you may go ahead and get it but if you are the career focused person, getting involved in a serious relationship may not be best for you. It's even risky to get invovled with a fellow corper you didn't know from your university days and just met at the NYSC.

Is 3 weeks or 1 year enough to really know a person you intend getting married to or at least get seriously involved with? Well, there are 2 sides that would argue wise in favour or against it and as I said again, it really depends on your goals in life.

Personally, I believe that the first thing a youth corper should consider before considering long term relationship with another corper is the background. Do you really share the same background with the person? Do you come from the same tribe or state of origin? Did you grow up in the same environment? You know people who grew up in northern Nigeria are different from those that grew up in southern Nigeria and same goes for east and west. Do you share the same religion and faith? Those are some of the important things that matter. Don't just fall into love and serious relationship with a corper as some girls or boys do without considering the long term effects as the person may end up as your wife or husband surprisingly.

During the NYSC, I've noticed that some corpers actually do get married and I normally ask myself if their relationship was just based on their experiences during the NYSC and not the fact that they knew each other before that. It's hard but not impossible to form long term relationships with people you just met at camp or during your service year.

When NYSC corpers do decide to get married, they are normally lucky to get support from the NYSC office as I believe some financial consideration and support will be given to them. I don't know how much they give them now but it's really a considerable amount of money to help offset their wedding bill which it not normally too expensive given that guests would understand that an NYSC wedding is for corpers that have not started making big money. Yes, as a government pikin, you will be given some cash gifts to help you.

For those who don't intend to get married to a fellow corper in the future, it's not normally wise to engage in any serious relationship as that could affect your future marriage to another person by the time you do get married

During our NYSC camp training at the early morning runs, our platoon coordinator who was also soldier normally mocks us with a song that goes like this;

Dem go born mumu
Dem go born mumu
if corper marry corper
Dem go born mumu

and we normally sing back saying;

Dem go born mumu
Dem go born mumu
if soldier marry corper
Dem go born mumu

Just don't mind those soldiers that mock you because getting married to a fellow corper is good as long as you truly love the person and don't want to wait for too long as many young Nigerians are now doing by postponing their marriage. If he or she fits the profile you are looking for in a marriage, then just get married.

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Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 12:41:5:

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