30/03/2025
It's the dawn of a new era! ✍️✍️✍️
The Birth of Khaki Classics
On the 22nd day of May, 1973, the Head of State of Nigeria, Gen. Yakubu Gowon promulgated the Decree No. 24 that established the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. The intention was to promote national unity, reconciliation, and rehabilitation by mobilising Nigerian graduates to serve in all states of the country following the civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970. Since then, most Nigerian graduates have served the nation in the rain and under the sun, depositing relics of the khaki regalia in every home.
In my second year in the university, FUTO precisely, where I studied Chemical Engineering, I was spending my Rain Semester holidays in Lagos when in a dream I was handed a magnificent book whose weight would require much strength to lift, and whose volume, height and width were just as impressive. This solemn ceremony unfolded in an imposing and spacious library. Thus was I instructed and prepared for a journey that the vicissitudes of life would keep in abeyance for an untold number of years. We may never know the cost of, or how long it would take, transporting our dreams to the material point of manifestation.
As though finally awakening from the dream and taking the first step of my mandate, I pledged (to myself), just before my service year began, to document my experience for posterity . It was a call from which I could never pull away. True to the nudge, as soon as I received my call-up letter, I put pen to paper and began this journey, never knowing how far it would lead.
Done with the work at the end of my service year, I delivered it to my Director General, Brigadier General Maharazu Tsiga, in Abuja; and to show his support and recommendation, he wrote the Foreword to my book, A CORPS MEMBER'S DIARY.
Thus unfurled the winding road that eventually led me to the paths of hundreds of corps members in recent years. All along, I was emboldened in the understanding that the mark of all true leaders is neither in their fame nor tact but in their unfazed ability to replicate themselves in others such that when their deed or days are done, the lamp that they have lit will burn for all time through the lives of countless others. Armed with this knowledge, I volunteered to mentor these corps members, expecting absolutely nothing in return, save the joy of seeing young Nigerians like myself bask in the euphoria of improving their writing skills. Many of them are ultimately becoming authors, just like me, while yet serving their country. Their stories are unearthing the relics of the khaki regalia in every home and transforming them into rare gems of literary genius. This is the birth of Khaki Classics.
It was a journey scarred with sacrifices that I had no knowing would spring up along the way. The loss of a job that gave me my first car, and of course, other jobs that would have stayed were it not for my restlessness to deliver on my self-imposed mandate; the loss of a marriage that was ultimately my world and my solace; and the loss of friends and acquaintances whom the winding ways of my world have since left bewildered.
Today, Khaki Classics is served in scintillating and savoury courses. A literary delicacy baked in the kiln of sacrifice and love. An e-book app that is available both to Android and iPhone users. Its uniqueness boasts in being both a repository of works that excites the mind of all lovers of good literature across the world, as well as being the workshop (Writers Room) in which most of the authors are forged.
Our first course in this literary potpourri is A CORPS MEMBER'S DIARY, the primus inter pares, the primordial concept that has continued to birth other stories that are verily a delight to savour.
AND WE ARE ONLY GETTING STARTED!
My name is Okeibunor Bethel Molokwu. Those who know me from home call me Nwaose.
Khaki Classics for Android users:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bethelmolokwu.khakiclassics
Khaki Classics for iPhone Users:
https://apps.apple.com/ng/app/khaki-classics/id6741084156
