Corps member stocks library, helps pupils in Delta

ALTHOUGH called to serve their fatherland, many hardly walk in line with the contents and spirit of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) anthem.

But the case of a serving Abia-born youth corps member in Delta State typifies the ideal of what is probably required of an average youth corps member. Instead of running after rich men in the state to seek pleasure and money as many female corps members do, she has chosen to follow her passion by adding value to mankind.

Miss Mercy Mma Agbagha is among the 2014/2015 Batch B of the NYSC. With NYSC number DT/14B/0672, she was, on August 28, 2014, posted to the Nigeria Naval Engineering College, Ogorode, Sapele, in Sapele Local Government Area of the state for the one-year service.

The 23-year-old 2014 graduate of Library and Information Science from Abia State University, Uturu, has brought a lease of life to the library of the college where she is observing her primary assignment as well as other schools in the local government area.

InsideNigerDelta gathered that due to Miss Agbagha’s exemplary service, the commandant of the naval college, Rear Admiral Ayodele Yusuf, said her contributions to the college were “immense, not only to the college library, but also to other sections of the college.”

“She introduced the course, “Use of Library,” for fresh students and wrote the manual to aid the teaching and learning of the course”, the commadant said.

He further described the youth corps member as rich in decorum, selfless and of good home training.

“As a youth corps member in the college, she is well behaved, friendly, hardworking, innovative and of a good attitude,” Rear Admiral Yusuf boasted.

It was further gathered that Miss Agbagha went ahead to acquire a building structure, refurbished it and re-equip it as a library building for Ethiope Mixed Secondary School which had none before. Corper Mercy, as now fondly called, donated the standard school library and stocked it with furniture and books as well as other modern facilities.

During the inauguration of the library complex recently, the state NYSC coordinator was represented by Mr Ifeanyi Agogha, who expressed excitement at what the lady had brought to the school in few months of service to her fatherland.

A joyous teacher of the school, who could not hide his feeling, averred: “Ha! Corper Mercy demonstrated to us hardwork, uprightness, selfless service and love. She has left an indelible footprint on the sand of time.”

The female corps member was said to have also freely impacted knowledge in pupils and students in the area of sex and moral education, as well as distributed learning and teaching materials to other schools.

Some of the schools, which are also recipients of the lady’s magnanimity, included: Okpe Grammar School, Sapele; Ethiope Mixed Secondary School, Sapele and Bishop Johnson Primary School, Sapele, all in Sapele Local Government Area of the state.

Miss Agbagha also distributed books and foot-wares to students and pupils. Overwhelmed by the corps member’s uncommon gesture, head master of Bishop Johnson Primary School, Sapele, Mr Paul Otite, who benefitted from the foot wares, conjectured thus: “Corper Mercy came to the school on the 28th of April, 2015 to distribute pairs of school sandals, pairs of socks, two dozens of exercise books, pencils and story books, for which we appreciated her in good faith; even now, we are looking forward to more areas of help for the school.”

The indelible prints could also be found at Okpe Grammar School, where Miss Agbagha has registered her name in gold. There, InsideNigerDelta learnt that, amid moral decadence in the society, she successfully sensitised all JSS1 students on the prons and cons of sex education and premarital sex as well as other moral codes.

 On her part, Miss Agbagha, who, on July 2, will take a bow out of the one-year compulsory service, beamed with smiles when speaking on her feats.

How did she come about sourcing funds for the numerous projects she executed and still executing within a month that she started her service year? Corper Mercy, who is fourth child of her parents, who reside in Abariba, was not short of answers.

“I love education and I love to contribute to the lives of the Nigerian students in any little way I can. At the beginning of the whole thing, I appealed to several naval officers, where I was serving, for financial aid and majority of them gave me assistance. Some private library organisations also helped me. That was how I raised the money. The work is still ongoing and at this stage, it is not time to quantify, in monetary terms, what I have spent so far, but what I can say now is that so much money has gone in.”

Miss Mercy loves being of help to others. She recalled how she had, while at high school, helped her colleagues in the areas of foodstuffs and money.

 “I love philanthropy. I love helping the underprivileged. People are suffering. The rich should rise for the poor in the society. I always feel good doing good. That is all that life is about,” she philosophised.

The outgoing corps member, who said he would return to Abia State to seek a job after the passing-out parade on July 2, has a word for incoming youth corps members: “Pick a project you can do and follow it with passion. Do good things for the underprivileged.