'Ejo': Hitchhiking mode activated by Eniang O.

Eniang (left) with some other 'Ejo corpers' in a truck

I finally got my good friend from camp, Eniang to send in a piece. He claims he isn't much of a writer, I'd say he did a fine job, wouldn't you? Doctor/Corper Enny is serving in a nearby town village called Bode-Osi in the OlaOluwa Local Government, at [probably] the [only] hospital [in the entire village].

Check out the post below:

"My mama told me not to talk to strangers" is a phrase we have all heard or even used at one point or another. However what you're about to read goes against almost everything your mother told you.

If 'Mayday, Mayday' is a military call sign for an emergency then 'Ejo' is our paramilitary call sign for hitching a free ride.'Our' here refers to youth corpers posted to OlaOluwa Local Government, Osun state, where I serve. To some of you,'Ejo' in the Yoruba language means 'please', but to us, it's more than that; it's a plea to mechanized road users to give us a free ride. 

Considering the location, not exactly backwaters but definitely rural, getting food stuffs, provisions and other urban necessities in that area is almost null. As a result, we have to go to our 'parent' town Iwo where markets, supermarkets, banks and ATMs are readily available and in numbers too. There are no buses in OlaOluwa and very very few private cars and really expensive motorcycles. An average trip to Iwo for a corper would cost about N150 during the day and N250 at night, and this most definitely puts a strain on our financial base of N19,800. 

So we've resorted to pleas for free rides on motorycles owned by farmers riding to Iwo to sell off their produce or owned for private purposes by indigenes in Ola-Oluwa. If we are lucky and I mean really lucky, we could hitch a ride in an air-conditioned Toyota saloon car to keep us cool from the afternoon sun. Sometimes 'business' may be slow and we could stand for hours trying to get a vehicle to convey us to Iwo but when the desirable is not available, the available becomes MOST desirable. In such a case you could find us taking 'Ejo' in pickup trucks (as in pictured above), lorries or like one very special day on our way to a CDS meeting day, a tanker. For some of us, it's really nothing to be ashamed of, we just think of it as our Ola-Oluwa Hummer Stretch or Limousine (I mean it's free for Heaven's sake!). 

The only qualification required to use this means of transportation is being a corper, a 'uniformed' man or woman (yes ladies do it, too. It's even easier for them). If you are not in your corper uniform then all you need is a form of identification, definitely not your NYSC ID card, though (I mean, you can't be flashing your ID card to every motorist on the road), rather your NYSC cap which can be worn on any form of dressing -corporate or traditional- for all to see. 

It may sound like this act is only peculiar to corpers but saying that would be a fallacy as it also occurs amongst indigenes. Some even go as far as taking 'ejo' to Osogbo, the Osun State Capital (guilty as charged, lol) or even Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital (30-minute ride from Iwo by 'Ejo', 40minutes by paid transport)

As much fun as using this diverse means of transport is (I mean, you don't get to enter a tanker everyday), there are attendant risks involved. One of which and most common is getting your beautiful attire or 'Ajuwaya' uniform stained with dust or oil (palm, engine or crude, lol). 

A risk you're willing to take you would say, right? But on a serious note, there is a far more grievous risk involved in this er, 'James Bond' transportation style and it's kidnapping.

Being corpers serving our nation in another state we are most certainly unfamiliar with, by logic and momma's words, we shouldn't embark on such dangerous activity as it serves as an opportunity for men of the underworld to carry out their unspeakable deeds. 

However, we are blessed to be serving in Osun State, "Ipinle Omoluabi", The State of the Virtuous and they are indeed virtuous and very accommodating especially to corpers, so hitching a free ride with this wonderful indigenes is virtually hitch-free. 

Moreover, it's Almighty God that protects us but be reminded 'Ejo' is not for the faint-hearted, it is only for people who are not afraid of the unknown, scared of the unseen, or fearful of the uncharted, so please DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. 

But if you do, do not forget to carry your 'Ejo cap', lol.

PS: OLA-OLUWA IS A VILLAGE, NOT A TOWN