I encountered a strange young man during my NYSC days in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. We were both in the Medical and Health Community Development Service (CDS) as he is a pharmacist and I was then an Anatomist. The arrangement back then was such that members of the CDS who are essentially medical and para-medical professionals like doctors, pharmacists, nurses, medical lab scientists, radiologists, nutritionists, etc., were all assigned a day to man the NYSC Clinic at the Federal Secretariat. Some were on the morning shift while others were on the afternoon shift till the clinic closed at 4:00 pm during working days. 

The essence of the NYSC Clinic was just to attend to the health issues of Corp members and members of staff of the NYSC who hardly ever use the clinic or even know whether something of such exists. And because we hardly have patients, we would normally help ourselves by playing ludo, chess, cards, etc. It may interest you to know that I learned how to play the monopoly inside what is supposed to be a clinic. Not that I really love playing games, but an equally bored colleague insisted on teaching me against my will. I guess it was her own way of passing the time. Funny right? So it was in this setting that I meant Christopher who became my gist partner in one of our afternoon shifts. He shared with me his inspiring story which I am sharing with you in this writeup. Boredom can also turn a man into a storyteller you know. 

Christopher had just graduated from a particular university in Cross River State and was confused about what to do pending the time he got called up to serve his motherland. It was during one of his long thinking sessions that he thought of a crazy idea. What was this idea? At that time, he learned that the current minister of health was from his small village, so he made up his mind that he was going to travel from Calabar to Abuja just to see the honorable minister. As in, who does that? Traveling all the way to meet an ever-busy minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who does not even know you? A person that even highly-ranked individuals, and expatriates have been trying to get an appointment for months without success? That is someone a random graduate dared to meet just like that. Even then, will you believe that my guy has never been to Abuja before? Damn! Who does that? Clearly a “pipe-dreamer”. Don't you think? 

He was like Abraham who was in pursuit of an unknown land but the only difference between them was that one heard a voice, while the other was just "mad". However, his audacity “made a difference” (MAD) in his life to date. Long story short, he took his bag and followed a midnight bus to Abuja. 

As he arrived at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), my guy wasted no time in getting to the Federal Ministry of Health where he was shown the secretary to the minister’s office. He boldly approaches the secretary that he would like to see the honorable minister. I guess the secretary must have looked at him from head to toe. Maybe she must have even given him the “how dare you” look. I do not know but whichever happened, it never meant a thing to his resolute spirit. He further told the secretary that he was closely related to the honorable minister so I guess that was what gave him a seat in the waiting room.  

On that day, like any other regular day at the honorable minister’s office. There were a lot of people sitting in the waiting room; some had been coming for weeks without getting a moment with the honorable minister and would never ever get the chance because the honorable minister could see people in the waiting room on the CCTV right there in his office and can quickly phone his secretary not to bring some persons in for reasons best known to him. Some will go in to see the honorable minister and spend hours upon hours while some will barely get a 2-minute chat with him.

So after a long day of attending to visitors, the honorable minister was closing for the day and he strangely asked if any other person was waiting to see him. The secretary said there was no more person but a young man who claimed to be his relative. And as my friend’s luck will have it, the honorable minister asked that he be brought in. According to Christopher, he said the office is designed in a way that the honorable minister can see a visitor approaching him from a distance away and can ask his secretary to call back the visitor from approaching him if he so decides. 

My friend said he was sitting boldly in the waiting room until the secretary beckoned to him that it was his turn and that was the moment he started fidgeting as he approached the honorable minister who was staring at him with the “What is this?” look. Perhaps the honorable minister was already regretting asking that he be brought over. My guy was overwhelmed with a lot of thoughts in his head as he slowly approached the honorable minister’s well-furnished office. Thoughts like: What should I say? How do I approach this man? Am I not here to simply embarrass myself? He got so paralyzed by these numerous thoughts in his head and the subduing aura around the Minister of the Federal Republic who was right on his face. So he strangely started smiling as he approached the honorable minister. And only by the Grace of God, I presume, both men started laughing. After laughing briefly with my friend, he told him, “Young man, what do you want?”. My friend merely said, “Sir, your boy just graduated as a pharmacist, please, get me busy”. The honorable minister sighed deeply as he heard his words and said, “I like courageous young men like you”. He reached for a small piece of paper on his desk, wrote a few words, handed it over to him, and said, “Show this to the secretary”. That 2-3-minute encounter with the honorable minister made my friend one of the extension workers who helped the federal government distribute mosquito nets across major local governments in Nigeria.

During this assignment, he made a lot of money, lodged in hotels, and flew in airplanes across the country. All expenses were paid by the federal government I guess. He was so busy that he had to defer his NYSC by a year and I am sure a daring mind like him must have met some highly-ranked individuals who would have helped him land a good job after NYSC. This, I am sure of. 

My friend's story could even be a lie or there might be some things he knowingly didn't say about what really backed his courage in taking such an audacious step but his story remains one of great courage and audacity. Of course, I won't encourage anyone to try what he did even in a dream as that could lead to a lifetime embarrassment. However, I believe every man has his own peculiar instinct for success in life. No matter what your instinct is, be bold about it because it takes courage and even audacity to achieve something worthwhile in this life.

Truth be told...
once life can change fast if you're willing to dare...
so goes the term go hard or go home.

ghettochild:
Truth be told...
once life can change fast if you're willing to dare...
so goes the term go hard or go home.

Well put!