‘Mammy Market,’ founded by Idoma woman, Mrs Ochefu officially added to Oxford Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added several Nigerian-origin words in its latest update, reflecting the growing global influence of Nigeria’s language, culture, and cuisine.

Among them is “Mammy Market,” founded by an Idoma woman, the late Mrs. Maria “Mammy” Ochefu.

The December 2025 update, released on the OED website on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, and sighted by IDOMA VOICE, features more than 500 new words, phrases, and senses, including Mammy Market.

In the dictionary, the entry reads:

“Mammy Market: noun; Nigerian English. A market typically run by women, originally found in military barracks but later also in youth service camps and educational institutions. In later use, widely associated with Nigerian entrepreneur Mammy Maria Ochefu, who, in 1959, started selling soft drinks to soldiers at the military barracks where she lived with her husband.”

The entry also includes historical references:

1946: “The two Africans…belonged to different units but might have bought food in the same ‘Mammy’ market.” – Journal Royal Army Med. Corps vol. 86

1963: “‘Mammy markets,’ run exclusively by women, sprawl virtually in the shadow of Lagos’s gleaming, brand-new skyscraper.” – New York Herald Tribune (European edition)

2024: “All food vendors within the camp were tutored on how to keep their food items safe… We have wash hand basins with soaps at strategic places such as the mammy market, the chapel, and mosque.”

The Story Behind Mammy Market

It all began in 1959, when Mammy Maria Ochefu, a young woman from Jericho-Ugboju in present-day Otukpo Local Government Area, Benue State, was married to Anthony Aboki Ochefu, a Non-Commissioned military officer posted to Enugu from Abeokuta.

To keep busy and support her young family, Mrs. Ochefu started a soft drinks and gruel business, preparing “umu” or “enyi” (as called in Idoma) or “kunu” in Hausa, for sale to soldiers in the barracks. Her gruel quickly became popular, with soldiers—often through their officers’ batmen—frequenting her stall Monday through Friday.

However, not everyone approved. One Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) complained that her gruel attracted flies into the barracks and ordered her to stop. Though initially disappointed, Mammy Ochefu complied. The army community, missing her fresh and nutritious gruel, applied pressure on the RSM, who eventually relented and allocated a section of the barracks for her business.

With her own space, Mrs. Ochefu’s business flourished. Other women soon followed her example, selling a variety of goods in that same area. Over time, this section became known as the “Mammy Market.” The concept spread across Nigeria, becoming a standard feature inside or near military barracks, initially for officers and men, and later for broader communities.

Legacy and Expansion

Today, a visit to Abuja is incomplete without sampling fresh fish or local delicacies in one of the Mammy Markets, especially the one attached to Abacha Barracks. Similar markets in paramilitary barracks also bear the name.

After the coup that overthrew General Yakubu Gowon, Anthony Aboki Ochefu, then a Colonel, was posted as Military Governor of East Central State. Mrs. Ochefu occasionally visited the original site of Mammy Market.

Mama Ochefu died in March 2025 at the age of 86.