Mobile phone ownership has grown exponentially in Nigeria in the past decade. According to a 2014 report from the pew research centre, 27% of Nigerians own smartphones, 62% own ordinary phones while 11% have no phones. Hence, mobile phone penetration has significantly increased geometrically.
These phones whether they are smart or not serve different hilarious and sometimes unconventional purposes for Nigerians. Jumia Travel shares some of funny these ways.
Serve as torchlight when there is no power
Torchlight is a very important smartphone feature. It seems this feature was added because the makers are well aware that power is unstable in Nigeria. Until then, the mobile phone torchlight will be appreciated. The torchlight is used by everyone from a market woman to a chief executive and taxi drivers. It will always come handy when power is abruptly interrupted. This funny because it was never meant to be aggressively used for this purpose.
‘Lie’ about your location
You have done this before. Yes? Hmmm…phones have made it very easy to lie. Unashamedly, in a commercial bus in Lagos, he will lie that he is close to the location of the meeting. Meanwhile, he is very far away. Worse still, some of them are yet to even leave home. Since, there is no way you can confirm, you have to be patient and wait for the person.
Shouting on the phone
Shouting on the phone is one of the ways you can identify some Nigerians. Although this practice is on the decline, quite a handful of people still do it. They are verbose and disclose their private life on the phone without being worried if they are in public or not.
Serve as a wallet
The back of a phone serves as a safe place to keep money even though only small amounts can be kept there. The reason for this may be because mobile phones are hand held.
For wooing girls
There are now Facebook and Instagram girlfriends. In other words, virtual girlfriends whom they have never met and are not intending to meet anytime soon. Some of these guys are expert in wooing social media girls but they always freak out or suddenly become tongue-tied when they meet an amiable and stunning lady!
Adeniyi Ogunfowoke is a PR Associate at Jumia Travel.
