By Benue Info-pedia Editorial Desk 

When Angel Rufus Amaka learned that she had been posted to Benue State for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, her first reaction was fear.

The distance from home worried her, but what troubled her even more were the negative things she said she had heard about Benue before her posting.

“I started crying,” Amaka recalled.

A Biology graduate of Ignatius Ajuru University, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Amaka said it took encouragement from people around her before she eventually gathered the courage to make the journey to Benue with other corps members posted to the state.

The journey itself was not smooth.

According to Amaka, the vehicle conveying them developed problems, causing them to arrive late at the NYSC orientation camp. When she eventually arrived, the uncertainty she had felt before travelling returned.

“I started crying and said I was going to relocate and leave here,” she said.
But her experience at the orientation camp gradually began to challenge the fears and expectations she had carried with her.

As the days passed, Amaka said she started enjoying the camp and became increasingly curious about the state beyond the stories she had heard before coming.

Rather than leave immediately, she decided to experience Benue for herself.

“I decided that I want to taste and see this state people are talking bad of,” she said.

That decision marked a turning point in her experience.

After leaving the orientation camp, Amaka said her interactions with people in Benue further changed her perception. She described the people she encountered as caring and accommodating and said those experiences made her more comfortable with staying in the state.

Her posting to Alven International School in Makurdi also helped her settle in. According to Amaka, the school welcomed her and provided comfortable accommodation, which made her feel more relaxed as she began her primary assignment.

That support, she said, strengthened her decision to remain in Benue rather than seek relocation.

“I love it here,” Amaka said.

However, Amaka is careful to acknowledge that her experience is still relatively new. She has spent only about a month in Benue and says she expects there is much more of the state for her to discover during the rest of her service year.

Her early experience nevertheless represents a significant shift from the apprehension she felt before travelling.

She arrived worried about a place she knew largely through what she had heard from others. After spending time at the orientation camp, interacting with people and beginning her primary assignment in Makurdi, she says her personal experience has been markedly different from the picture she initially expected.

For Amaka, the experience has so far been less about proving that everything in Benue is perfect and more about discovering the state for herself rather than relying entirely on distant perceptions.

Her service year is still at an early stage. There will be more communities to encounter, people to meet and experiences that may further shape her understanding of Benue.

But for now, the corps member who initially arrived in tears says she is enjoying her stay and is looking forward to seeing what the rest of her time in the state will bring.

This story is based on Angel Rufus Amaka’s personal account of her first month serving in Benue State.