Mami Wata — Short Stories in Nigerian Pidgin English seeks to facilitate the use of Pidgin English as a National Language in Nigeria, and to create dialogue among young people in Nigeria.
Also, the purpose of producing the work is to provide these young people an opportunity to read and write in a language my generation was deprived of using. Similarly, the subject and the language choice of this book give emphasis on the use of Pidgin English as a language rather than being perceived in the manner linguistic researchers once did. Those researchers relegated it, with respect to other languages, to a lower rung. Today, in Nigeria, statistics show that four out of every five people can speak and understand Pidgin English. Every two people can read Pidgin English texts. In addition, the Nigerian entertainment industry has 'pidginized' its productions in order to reach as many people as possible, in spite of the languages such people may speak. This aspect has caught on in the Nigerian Hip Hop scene, the home video industry, the news media etc. Mami Wata — Short Stories in Nigerian Pidgin English is the very first book on Yoruba folktales written in Nigerian Pidgin English. It is hoped that this book will help to correct wrong and past notions that the Nigerian Pidgin English is part of a passive resistance scheme adopted by educated elites and missionaries in Nigeria for their various interests; in other words an “outcast language.”
