The History if Mammy Market: How a Soldier’s Wife, Mammy Ochefu, Started Nigeria’s First “Mammy Market.”
It’s a name familiar to anyone who has spent time around Nigerian military bases: Mammy Market. These bustling spots for food, drinks, and everyday items are a part of barracks life across the country. But few know the story of the woman whose nickname started it all.
It began in 1959 in Enugu. A young woman named Mammy Ode, from Jericho-Ugboju in present-day Benue State, had moved with her husband, Anthony Aboki Ochefu, a young soldier, to the Army Barracks in Abakpa.
To keep busy and help with family expenses, Mammy started a small business. She made and sold enyi—a nutritious gruel known as kunu in Hausa. Her fresh brew quickly became popular. Soldiers lined up at her home for a taste, and even officers sent their orderlies to buy some for them during the week.
But not everyone was pleased. The Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), a senior non-commissioned officer, complained that the business was attracting flies. He gave Mammy a direct order: stop making and selling the gruel immediately.
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Heartbroken but with little choice—her husband was not yet an officer who could challenge the RSM—Mammy shut down her operation. For weeks, she was upset, and the soldiers who loved her kunu missed it.
The soldiers’ disappointment turned into pressure on the RSM. They wanted their kunu back. Eventually, he gave in, but with a condition. He set aside a specific area within the barracks for Mammy to run her business.
Overjoyed, Mammy built a small shop in the designated spot. Her business did better than ever, often selling out before midday. Other women in the barracks saw her success and began setting up stalls nearby, selling other goods. Quickly, that corner of the barracks got a new name: everyone started calling it “Mammy Market.”
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This simple solution grew into official policy. The military began to deliberately create similar markets inside or near barracks for soldiers and their families. The name stuck, and “Mammy Markets” spread across Nigeria.
Today, these markets are institutions. A trip to Abuja is often said to include a visit for fresh fish at the vibrant Mammy Market near Abacha Barracks. The concept has even been adopted by paramilitary formations.
Mammy Ochefu’s own life story continued to intertwine with the nation’s. After the coup in 1975, her husband, then Colonel Anthony Aboki Ochefu, was appointed the Military Governor of the East Central State. They returned to Enugu as the First Family, able to visit the humble spot where her market began years earlier.
In retirement, the couple even named their haulage and trading company “Mammy Markets” in honour of how it all started. Mrs. Mammy Ochefu, the woman who started with a pot of gruel, is now a respected elder living in Otukpo. Her legacy, however, lives on in bustling markets from Enugu to Abuja, a quiet reminder of how one woman’s enterprise became a part of daily life for the Nigerian military.
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