FREEDOM

I believe it was Elbert Hubbard who once said that responsibility is the price of freedom, this I got to learn in the hard way when I was in my one year mandatory service for my nation. I will like to state here that my story is not a fiction but a record of my past and which you will find out after reading this article. I grew up in a family where my parents are strict and disciplinary figure in my neighbourhood. As horrible has my neighbourhood was, my mum still tried to inculcate a moral and religious background to me and my brother. When I was in school, I have always tried to remember my mother’s word and how well she has taught us. An adage that comes to my mind frequently was a Yoruba proverb which says ‘’Ranti Omo Eni ti Won Se’’ it simply means that remember the home which you came from. My university days were quite interesting because of the guardians of my religious friends and elderly ones all around me. They will make sure I do my assignment and also engage my service to the Lord. 

All things went well for me until I was posted for my National Youth Service Corps in Nasarawa state. I was not moved just because I have schooled in the north for six years which by now am used to. I quickly got all my materials I needed and boarded on a bus from Niger State to Nasarawa State. The Magaji Dan-Yamusa Permanent Orientation Camp in Keffi was the third best orientation camp across the nation. I was so excited on the site of the beautiful camp, after the whole registration and accreditation exercise, we were told to pick a block and also a bunk where we will stay because I was one of the first corp member to be in camp I took a very good spot and I was later joined by a guy Sam.  Sam graduated from my school also but a set before me and we clicked together forming a partnership that will later be called ‘’mafia corper’’.  Sam was a heavy smoker and a drunkard, while for me I only take one to two bottles and that’s all for the night. Sam taught me how to drink till we will have to be punished by soldiers the next day on the parade ground. I became so expert that I don’t only take one drink but also mix two to three drinks together just to get high as they say. At this point, my mind was always telling me that freedom is nothing else than the right to live in our own judgement which at this moment was made by Sam. After the two week orientation camp, I was posted to Ministry of Works and Housing in Lafia. My Community Development Service was my football team which I engage in while in camp. I was chosen as the captain of my batch and because of that I got a good posting and to the capital city. I got my own apartment in Lafia because of the lifestyle I was living in camp will not be tolerated in the family house. I got to make new friends from my football team and a very girl named Chioma. Chioma was a tom-boy who tries to balance a sociable life and a religious life. She invited me to her church which 

I went to and i invited her out with my guys for a drink which she often join us. After some months, she was really into it and she was competing with the other guys when it comes to getting high. I remembered a favourite quote of Chioma, ‘’I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free to do whatever I want.’’ Chioma and I engaged in our usual fun of life together. At this point, we always crave for the night because I know am free to do whatever I like and desire.

After four months, I had a new neighbour who at the first discussion we had spoke to me about character and attitude we should portrait as a corper. He observed our movement for some time and he prayed to God to make us realise our potential and reason for having this freedom. After wasting six month of my service year, i later find out that freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. I have made my mistakes with my friends and we have wasted precious time in drinking and flirting around but thank God for his mercies that found us back to our moral sense and his kingdom. I have being to places to speak about youth reformation and I thank God that am now a motivational speaker using my life has an example to the youth around me. The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.  The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first. I tell you the youth getting ready for the youth service should know that freedom has a way of destroying things and it must be guided with moral virtues and also the fear of God. I leave you with a quote of my own that says ‘’ Freedom is nothing but a chance to be a better person.