A travel magazine, Fortunate Traveller, has released the second volume of its National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) anthology titled ‘Becoming Otondo: An Anthology of NYSC Travels’.
‘Becoming Otondo’ is a collection of creative nonfiction and photographs from varied voices.
Edited by Temitayo Olofinlua and comprising 13 contributors from across major tribes in Nigeria, it is rooted in the art of travel and experience for a compulsory national assignment.
In the anthology’s foreword, the magazine’s co-founder, Tope-EniObanke Adegoke, stated that Nigerian fresh graduates under 30 are regularly mandated to serve the country for one year.
“It does not matter that those before them have gone down the same road, neither will their participation stop future graduates from answering the call to service. It remains a cycle, for now, a rite of passage to becoming a Nigerian,” he wrote.
Adegoke stated that the anthology aims to curate nonfictional narratives about the NYSC scheme to archive memories of corps members and show how far Nigeria has come as a nation.
While commending the anthology’s contributors for bravely telling their stories, Adegoke encouraged Nigerians to read the stories and learn from the lives and experiences of the contributors while they served their fatherland.
“The anthology is not all about the anxiety of embarking on a journey. There is more chaos in there. You will find resonance in all the stories and images,” he added.
The anthology publishers stated that the collection can be read as a “response to the questions about the Nigerian identity, unity, and the mutation of the English language in Nigeria.”
The contributors of ‘Becoming Otondo’ are Onofeta Osoh, Winifred Odunoku, Chidera Udochukwu, Deborah Ajilore, Kosisochukwu W Ugwuede, Ogunjuowo Boluwatife, Kingsley Alumona, Sami Tunji, Bukunmi Oyewole, Adebayo Adegbite, Overcomer Ibiteye, Salome Olorunsogo, and Gideon Ikupolati.
According to Adegoke, the first volume of Fortunate Traveller’s NYSC anthology was ‘Government Pikin: An Anthology of NYSC Vol. 1’ published in 2021.
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