A currently serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member posted to one of the Southwest states in Nigeria, JUMMIA EMMANUEL, JKNewsMedia Reporter, recounts her daily experience as water vanished, power failed and snakes crept into living spaces after she and some colleagues were unable to travel to their home states and remained at their corps members lodge during the December holiday period.
JUST OUT of the blue, water became the centre of my daily struggle.
The situation particularly became intense during the 2025 Christmas holiday as I serve my youth corps service year under Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme.
Given the state of insecurity travelling inter-states across Nigeria, some of us were forced to stay back at our place of primary assignment lodge.
Then, we began to see unexpected dramas unfold.
For me, I experienced conditions that turned what should have been a quiet period into days defined by scarcity, fear, caution and endurance.
The lodge where I stay is located within an urban area but sits in what feels like a remote settlement.
It is actually designated to accommodate recently graduated corps members posted to their places of primary assignments under the mandatory year-long NYSC programme.
Also, the scheme requires eligible Nigerian graduates to complete the one year of national service after finishing full time studies and this comes with a monthly stipend paid for twelve months.
Before deployment, corps members also undergo three weeks of tough militia training in a camp generally described as excluded.
Meanwhile, during the last year 2025 long Christmas holiday, many corps’ members actually travelled home, especially those from near-by states in my personal estimation.
But for me and a few others who came from eastern and northern parts of Nigeria, we had no choice but to stay back.
So, I stayed back because of distance and insecurity challenges within the country as I noted earlier.
With fewer occupants left in the lodge, the reality of water scarcity became unavoidable. And sometimes, we joked about the stark reality of the compounded challenges we were suddenly confronted with.
To state honestly, our corps’ members lodge lacked functional water facilities as the only source of this important substance of life available to us was a partly leaking tank positioned at the entrance of the route leading to the hostel.
It is this tank that serves as the major reservoir meant to supply other tanks stationed across our copers’ lodge.
Sadly, for days, the distribution of water from that main tank to the others did not work. Faced with this unexpected reality, I knew i had to make adjustments as situation the demanded.
Each day, I walked long distances I don’t know how to quantify in kilometres from our immediate environment to fetch a few buckets of water for my vital needs. Yet, it was never enough.
Carrying water thus became a physically demanding routine that shaped how I planned each day for most of the festive period.
“So, lifting a bucket of water to my head and carrying the other bucket of water in my hand left me with unbearable body aches.”
To modestly describe the experience; “Mhn, the strain was constant. That experience affected basic hygiene and personal comfort.”
“I had to be thanking God that my monthly flow did not come out during those periods. How would I have coped, knowing the fact that I will need a lot of water to wash off?”
And because water was limited, bathing was rationed. Laundry was postponed indefinitely. Every decision involving water then required careful consideration.
In fact, drinking water was also sourced separately as I basically relied on sachet water, which I also had to obtain from a long distance using a paid motorcycle service.
Each trip added cost and effort during a seasonal period meant for utmost enjoyment but in my own case, grossly marked by difficulty.
I must not forget to add that electricity supply worsened the situation. Power outages from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) serving our area of copers’ lodge badly affected the area during that period.
With the power line generally down, pumping water from available facilities became impossible. We waited daily for what we described among ourselves as a “miracle call from heaven” that would allow water to be pumped using the provided generating plant.
But with most residents gone, fetching water became a Herculean task as with failed electricity, the option of pumping water disappeared completely.
Our only option was to depend entirely on manual collection from the leaking tank at the entrance, walking back and forth under the sun to meet basic needs.
Days passed on this issue, and we could only plead to God for divine intervention. Hope could only become a reality if, and only when one of the officials within our place of primary assignment had responded.
Somehow, our prayers got answered as pumping of water eventually resumed, and water flowed steadily.
For us, that marked the end of days spent rationing and walking long distances for small quantities.
In fact, the sound of running water became something we spoke about with relief. It felt like a moment waiting to be over had finally passed.
Reptiles In The Neighbourhood
Prior to the holiday period, one other issue that had already shaped our daily caution was the sight of snakes appearing frequently within the lodge.
They came in different shades of colour and were seen regularly, especially when temperatures were extremely high.
These unpleasant and scary sightings forced us to be careful, particularly in the early mornings and late evenings. Fear was not abstract.
Contemplating the cost of antidotes for snake bites was described as extremely expensive, and survival chances were considered slim.
So, each sighting heightened our awareness and anxiety within the lodge.
Sharing her experience with me, a former corps member said a green snake had once entered her room while she was alone in the lodge after a long day of exhaustion and crawled onto her leg while she was pressing her phone.
She said she remained calm and placed a call to her roommate for help.
It was the roommate who quietly came to her aid and killed the snake. Thankfully, no injuries were recorded from the incident.
She said the encounter was not formally documented, and no official response followed.
I also listened to another corps member who described an experience that left her visibly shaken.
She said she saw a large snake cross directly in front of her. “The snake I saw was big,” she said while demonstrating its size. “It had a thick body with a small head and brown and yellow colouring.” She said the encounter left her with significant fear and trauma.
Then, one day, another sighting occurred in the evening near the hostel area. A corps member said she saw what she described as a blue coloured snake resting close to a colleague’s window. When she shouted to alert others, the snake moved quickly into nearby bushland.
For many of us, these sightings have become frequent in recent times.
Some corps members even said they have lost count of how many times snakes appeared around the lodge before, during that period and even till date, especially with the extremely hot weather.
Yet, no official identification of the snakes was carried out. No formal safety response was recorded.
Now, living through these conditions have shaped my experience of the holiday as well as residing in a mini-rural community.
As Life Continues…
It would be unfair to state that the incidents of water scarcity have completely stopped dictating daily our daily routines. It’s only slightly better that the celebratory period.
Usual electricity outages only slightly removed basic support systems while the presence of snakes has added constant vigilance to already intensified circumstances.
My simple take is that remaining in the lodge meant adjusting expectations. Tasks that should have been simple now require my physical effort and planning.
While fetching water no longer involved every day long walks and heavy loads, each day is passing with vital lessons that what remains are the memories of that time, reflecting that conditions are tackled as they unfolded, shaped by lived experience rather than official records.
So, for me and others who stayed, that Christmas was defined by endurance. Water was a luxury. Power was uncertain. Snakes became neighbours within the space we called home during service.
