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If you are currently observing your mandatory one-year National youth service or you have served at some point in the past, you must have come across the word Mammy Market.
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The fuss here is that most of us have wondered how the name came to be and why all the NYSC camps in Nigeria had a Mammy Market. On Twitter, @NigeriaStories helpfully narrated how and why Mammy Market came to be.
‘She is the wife of the late military Governor of defunct East-Central state, Col. Anthony Aboki Ochefu, where she sold a local non-alcoholic beverage called enyi to support her family.’
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‘After taking a week break at home due to complaints from people that the drink attracted flies, pressure from her clients inspired a Lieutenant Colonel to build her a kiosk to make it more conducive.’ ‘Her family was later posted out of Enugu to Abeokuta but Mammy continued the business wherever they were posted to while she added snacks that would interest the soldiers.’ ‘Interestingly, whenever her family was transferred to another state, she would hand over the business to women who were interested in it but asked that they retain the name.’ ‘Mammy registered her business as “Mammy Market” in 1971. By the time her husband retired, the business had grown into a supermarket and a transport business.’ ‘Till date whenever a military barrack is built a mammy market is always built with it.’
Finally, corp members get to know the origin of Mammy Market which, over the years, has been a gracious alternative to the NYSC Kitchen. Featured Image Source: @NigeriaStories – Twitter
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This article was first published on 17th April 2021

chidozie-ahaneku

I am a poet. I am a moderate thinker who abhors radicalism on every front and believes that most things are relative. I am a social and political critic. I love writing, reading and international politics.

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