Iya Odeku – A True-Life Story from the Heart of Mushin Lagos Nigeria.
This is not a made-up tale or story by moonlight. This is real life. Many people that lived in the heart of Mushin Lagos around post office could testify to this. A True Life Story from the Heart of Mushin Lagos Nigeria of Iya Odeku.
Back in the day, sometime between 1985 and 1993, there was a woman known by almost everyone around this neighborhood a great woman called Iya Odeku,a good food seller.
This woman is called this name not because she sold tasteful foods, but because one of her sons was a big, tall, fine, strong, and happy young man. People used to say he looked like a giant drink bottle way back then (nicked name as Odeku Drink) From there, the name stuck. His mother became Iya Odeku.
Meanwhile, this story is not about names, nor about her family or about our daily visit to her shop.
This story is about four deep things:
- How her Ewa Aganyin and soft Mushin bread changed the feeding pattern of the whole community.
- How she was able to build success and respect from selling just that simple food.
- How she used her profits to travel abroad big in those days.
- And what later ended up with whole story about Iya Odeku.
If you lived around Post Office Road Mushin in those years, then you must remember that Ewa Aganyin and bread from Iya Odeku was not just food. It was joy. People, full-grown adults, children, traders, workers, stopped cooking at home.
Breakfast? Iya Odeku.
Lunch? Iya Odeku.
Dinner? Still her.
She made people abandon their own stoves. Even families with pots of stew at home would still come to buy her beans and bread. The way her pepper sauce entered the beans, the way the bread soaked it is soaked, you will lick your fingers and ask for more. Her food was a daily thing. It became a lifestyle. And without shouting, without social media, her brand grew naturally through taste and trust. My mom only gives me money for one breakfast, just bread and beans. But I always find a way to fund two or even three meals, because one meal can’t do the magic. Please don’t ask how I get the extra money… just focus on the story. Lol.
Iya Odeku didn’t just cook. She planned. She saved. She moved smartly. From the little money people paid for her beans and bread, she quietly built a future. She used the proceeds to send her children abroad to study. Back then, that was a dream many only spoke of. But this woman did it, from food. Local food. Street food.
She had a good name, people respected her, and she became a symbol of dignity in trade. No shame, no noise, just honest hustle.
What Happened After?
Recently, I went back to the same neighborhood. I walked through the same streets, and something touched me deeply. I saw there was no sign of continuity, no one stepping in to carry the vision forward. Instead, a foreign eatery food center was now benefiting from a concept someone once worked so hard to build. It felt like something powerful had been lost. And then I asked myself
Why did her children let that legacy die?
Why didn’t they take that same food, rebrand it, and build a strong local food business across Lagos or Nigeria? Why are other people packaging Ewa Aganyin and selling it in fancy eateries now, at high prices, while the original hands that served it with love are forgotten? We now have big-name restaurants all over, selling food that started on our streets, but without the soul. Some of those places might have even employed the children of Iya Odeku to work in a business their own mother created, lived, and thrived on. This is the bitter truth.
This is not to judge anybody. It’s not to blame anyone. But this should be a wake-up call for all of us.
If your mother or father once sold a product that people loved…
If your neighbor had a shop or skill that touched many lives…
If you grew up seeing something special and connected with it somehow…
Why have you left it behind?
As the Yoruba adage says: “Nkan ti a n wa lo si Sokoto, ó wa nínú àpò Sokoto.”
What we are searching for in Sokoto State might just be inside our own pocket. (Pocket in Yoruba means Sokoto – While we have a state named Sokoto in Northern part of Nigeria)
My Message to You
Let this Story of Iya Odeku from Lagos Nigeria speak to us. Let’s think back. Reflect. Use the power of AI, or the internet, to be begin a simple planning, and go back to that forgotten trade, that hidden gift, that family idea.
It may not look shiny now, but it may be your breakthrough.
That thing you are chasing far away might be the very thing you grew up with.
Your own story might start from right where you are. So, I ask you:
What trade, skill or legacy have we allowed to waste in Nigeria that we should bring back?
Thank you for reading.
Let us not forget where we come from, that trade gift that you neglected because sometimes, that’s where your future truly begins.
Story Written By: @debayooye on all Social Media.
