He is an interesting old man. please read through his interview with a PUNCH reporter
Ninety-one-year-old Mr. Moses Shoyele talks about his experience in the Nigerian army in this interview with FEMI MAKINDE
When were you born?
I was born on January 1, 1923. I attended
Baptist Day School at Awe, Oyo State. After that, I taught for a year
in Oyo town before proceeding to Iwo in Osun State. From Iwo, I left for
Lagos in 1940.
Who were your parents?
My dad was a farmer and my mother was a
petty trader and a housewife. My father was a polygamist. My mother
bore six children and I am her second son.
How was your growing up like?
My growing up was tough. Before going to
school, we had to do extra work to buy uniforms, books and other things.
It was not easy at all in those days. Most times, we had to fend for
ourselves because it was not easy catering for the needs of my elder
brother, my half-brother including myself, attending school at that
time. We wove baskets, set traps to catch animals and did menial jobs to
raise money to buy some of the things we needed in school.
What did you do after you left school?
I left for Lagos after schooling, I went
there to stay with an uncle with the hope that he would help me further
my education. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and was the one who suggested
that I should enrol at a mechanic workshop to learn how to repair
automobiles.
It was against my wish because I had
always wanted to be a nurse. I was a member of the First Aid group in
secondary school. One day, I went to CMS Bookshop and met a European who
was inquisitive and asked me what I wanted to buy. I told him I wanted
to buy first aid books and he asked if I was a ‘first aider’ and I said
yes.
He suggested that I should enlist in the
army because they were looking for ‘first aiders’ for field ambulance.
He said I would be selected if I applied and that morning, I went to the
barracks at Obalende, Lagos. I was selected and that was how I joined
the West African Frontier Force in the 1940s.
What was your experience in the army?
While we were in the unit, they organised
a crash programme for us as first aiders cum nurses at General Hospital
in Lagos. After six months, they conducted an examination for us and
those of us who were successful were absorbed into the army as nurses
cum first aiders. As the year 1941 was ending, we were moved to the
Military Hospital at Abeokuta, Ogun State, where we continued our
training and working on the field as well. That was how I became a
nurse. As time went by, after series of examinations and courses, we
were upgraded as nursing orderly Grades 1, 2 and 3. We were posted to
different departments after few weeks and moved to other departments to
gain experience. By 1942, the whole army unit was moved to Kaduna to
set up a military hospital there.
While I was there, I had an opportunity
to take some other courses. I was posted to X-ray department. There, I
started some courses and eventually became an X-ray technician.
In 1943, I was already an X-ray
technician 3. When it was time for the European personnel working in the
hospital to leave, I was asked to take over the department. I was in
charge of the X-ray department till 1946 before I was demobilised.
Before that time, my colleagues had been discharged from the army. But
unfortunately for me there was nobody to relieve me in the X-ray
Department at that time and I was given another year. Initially, I felt
so sad that my colleagues were going while I was still kept there but by
September 1946, someone came. They gathered my papers and I was given
clearance to go to Oshodi where I was handed my discharge certificate.
What happened after you were discharged from the army?
I went to stay with my brother in Lagos.
He was working with a company in Lagos. Within the week that I stayed
there something happened. I got a letter from the Military headquarters
that I should go to Ibadan and report for work. That was how I became
the person in charge of the X-ray department there. It was not a
full-time job and the then Director of Medical Services decided that I
should work in the ward as a nurse since I was qualified. He told me
that I would return to work in the X-ray department if there was an
emergency there. So, I was working in the ward and at the same time in
the X-ray department.
How did you meet your wife?
I met her when I was still in the army.
During the warm season, we were always given 30 days to relax. I went
home during the 30-day-leave and a friend of mine, Mr. Oyewo invited me
to his farm. He was a cattle rearer, so I went to see his cows and it
was there I met one of his brother’s daughters, Grace Shoyele née
Oyewo. She was working on the farm, we chatted and I became interested
in her.
What attracted you to her?
I was attracted by her smile and the way she talked. We started talking and that was how it started.
How many children do you have?
I have six children comprising four males
and two females. When we were growing up, we saw the value of education
and thus decided that whatever it would cost us, we must educate our
children. With my wife’s cooperation, we gave them the best of
education.
What are you children doing now?
One is a retired principal. He retired
from Abadina Grammar School while another is a teacher at Command
Secondary School, Lagos. One of them is also a teacher at Olivet High
School, Oyo. I have a child in the UK who is a journalist, one is a
lawyer and the last one is a quantity surveyor.
How do you relax?
I ensure that I go to the garden every
morning to do some physical exercises. I cannot do without exercise in
the morning. I do this every morning after my morning prayer.
What is your favourite meal?
I eat anything. I don’t have any favourite meal. I know that whatever I eat will not harm me.
Did you partake in the World War 11?
No, I was in the hospital doing my work. I was not on the field.
Do you attend social functions?
No, I don’t do that now. But even then, I
didn’t have opportunity to attend social functions because of the
volume of work. In 1958, when the General Hospital, Iwo, was
inaugurated, we worked day and night because the employees were few and
we had many people to attend to. We went to work early and came back
late. We only came home to freshen up and return to the hospital if
there was an emergency. So, we had no time for social activities.
After the hospital was well established,
we discovered that we had little time for ourselves. That was why we
formed a club to interact. It is situated opposite Bowen University,
Iwo, Osun State.
Who are your friends?
I have no particular friend. Anybody that
comes my way is my friend. My wife always complained that people
visited me but I would not visit them in return. But I don’t believe
that is how to make friends. I try to assist anybody who comes my way in
any way I can.
What is the secret of your good health?
It is God. I am alive and well by the
grace of God. I think one of the things I enjoy is that I don’t
restrict myself to a particular meal.
What advice do you have for youths?
I want them to be careful with their lifestyle. Young people indulge in drinking alcohol and cigarette smoking.
Where is your wife?
She is dead. She passed on over a year ago.
How did you cope with your wife during the war?
I was not married then. I married after I left the army.
How are you coping without your wife?
I have learnt to live on my own anywhere
I find myself. I don’t depend on people to do things for me. It is my
habit. I do everything for myself now. I cook and wash.
Are you considering remarrying?
Not at all. I am 91, what else am I still looking for? Why do I need to remarry? My wife just passed on over a year ago.
Aren’t you afraid of death?
Death is one of the necessities of life.
One must die. As long as one lives a fulfilled life, one should not be
afraid of death. Death will come when it will come and one should be
prepared for it.
What advice do you have for nurses?
The nursing profession is a noble one,
hence one needs to put in everything into it in order to be able to help
others. It appears that things have changed now. In those days, what
was paramount on our mind was to ensure that our patients were given
adequate attention. It is unlike now when nurses are looking for other
things. When I retired from the service, I started a clinic in Iwo and I
was using everything I had for my patients. I don’t think anything is
too much to sacrifice in order to help somebody in need. I am always
happy to help others and I think that is how every nurse should feel.
Anybody who one helps will not forget one. Such a person will not cease
to pray for one even if he or she has nothing to give. Prayer is far
better than anything else.
What was your most memorable experience during your nursing career?
There was a pastor who came to my clinic
when it was newly opened. His wife was pregnant and she was taken
somewhere to deliver the baby. Unfortunately, they were turned back
after the delivery. The baby was just about the size of a rat, so the
pastor came to the clinic and said I should help him.
I had no oxygen tent in the clinic and
asked him to take his wife and the baby to the hospital but he said they
had been rejected there. I improvised a bed, bought a roll of cotton
wool and used it as a cover for the tiny baby. I asked the mother to
distill her breast milk and the baby was fed through the nostril. I fed
the baby in the morning, afternoon and night. He was given glucose and
breast milk. You cannot believe that the baby is big now. He is married
and practising as a nurse as well. Anytime I remember the incident, it
gives me joy.
