Imagine an NYSC orientation camp without Mammy. What a dull setting indeed! To say the least, it would be nothing short of an uninteresting and uneventful experience and exercise. Thus, bearing this in mind, the NYSC in its unique wisdom makes provision for a huge pool of traders and service providers to convene in a particular domain within the orientation camp, during every orientation course. This arena is called Mammy market (the commercial hub of the orientation camp).
In the same way variety spices up life, so does Mammy breathes beauty and life to an NYSC orientation camp. Therefore, whoever you might be, which ever category you may belong: religious, reserved or social, having an affair with Mammy remains inevitable so far you are part of the orientation course. Little wonder, the word Mammy resonates in the mind of every Corps member, past and present.
For fun seekers, Mammy provides an ample opportunity to unwind and chill out, having had a stressful day carrying out series of drills, lectures and other related programs encapsulated in the NYSC scheme. The music, the drinks and the vast array of mouth-watering edibles provides a great deal of entertainment to the camp community (corps members, NYSC staff, traders and the Armed Forces).
As an agent of socialization, Mammy market helps in bringing together corps members on an informal ground, mostly, cutting across diverse religious and ethnic affiliations, as friendship is easily made while drinking on the same table with a colleague (funny but true). In the same vein, Mammy strengthens the ties between military instructors and corps members, as it creates an avenue for them to relate informally and cordially, aside the usual stern relationship at the parade ground and other official points of duty.
What about its economic relevance? Mammy market remains key, critical and the economic nerve center of the orientation camp. The beehive of activities: buying and selling, as well as rendering of essential services between the legion of businessmen and corps members remains key to the economic prosperity of the respective host communities, as most of the traders are natives of those communities.
The Mammy traders have also been development partners of the NYSC by helping to volunteer their chairs for corps members’ use in orientation camps challenged with insufficient seats for lectures and other official activities, in a bid to augment the convenience need of corps members.
If it’s Mammy market, no pen can exhaustively put down the exhilarating tales inherent in it. As such, hats be doffed for the management of NYSC for the brilliant initiative of convening Mammy market(s) across all its orientation camps in the country.

Malau Sylvanus
Journalist & Commentator reached via: sylvanusmalau@gmai

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Opinion: Mammy Market: The Spice of NYSC Camp – by Malau Sylvanus