MumZee: Freezers, microwaves are luxuries in Nigerian homes

The recent trending story of MumZee on X points to the number of Nigerians living without freezers, microwaves, and other household assets.

In the 21st century, Nigeria is nowhere near 1970’s America where you could walk into most houses and see a refrigerator, an iron, and/or a washing machine.

Deborah Olaki, also known as MumZee on X, formerly Twitter, a stay-at-home mom who became famous overnight, walked into fame with a comment on a random post where she shared her commitment to waking up at 4:50 am to cook for her husband, prompted by his mention of a female colleague bringing an extra spoon to work.

“I’ve always been too lazy to wake up and get his lunch ready. But the day he told me a colleague brought two spoons so he could eat with her, was the day I set my alarm for 4:50 am,” MumZee tweeted, January 4, on her X account.

It was not until she tweeted again after five days that it was realised she had to wake up that early because she lacked access to a freezer and microwave.

“You people have already blessed me with freezer and microwave o, I can sleep anyhow I like now,” Olaki said.

Many have since her comment, gifted her with household items, including a microwave and freezer.

Sadly, there are millions of MumZees in Nigeria as the latest Nigeria General Household Survey (2018/2019) shows that only 8.7 percent (19 million) of Nigeria’s total 218 million population, according to the World Bank, own freezers and only 1.5 percent (3.3 million people) own microwaves in their homes.

199 million other Nigerians do not own freezers, while about 215 million people need microwaves, and MumZee, until just recently, was among the number.

The largest country in West Africa with a population of over 200,000,000 people has 71 million living in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock.

According to the Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index, about 133 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty.

Money for many Nigerians is the major reason why these seemingly basic household items are luxuries.

For Ronke who resides with her husband and daughter in Lagos, money is a factor: “I can’t buy a freezer now because of money,” she said.

“If I had a freezer, I would be able to preserve my food most of the time due to the nature of my work, and it will at least make cooking easy for me during the week,” Ronke added.

Larry also shared the same sentiments as Ronke. He said while he would like to replace his faulty microwave, lack of finances prevents him from doing so.

“Having to warm my food now and then with the cost of gas is not favourable,” he said.

Like Larry and Ronke, Grace also said the presence of a microwave in her home where she resides with her parents and brother, would cut down on their use of gas. However, the prices of microwaves in the market haven’t made it any easier for her.

In May 2023, a small microwave was sold for N25,000, however, today the price of a small microwave on Jumia, a leading e-commerce company, is N70,000, a price that is above Nigeria’s minimum wage of N30,000.

The high cost of purchasing a freezer is the reason why Funmi who resides in Ado-Ekiti has been spending a larger chunk of her salary on frequent cooking.

“I have to buy things to cook almost daily and this can be costly because I don’t have a way to preserve my food,” she shared.

Lack of consistent power supply in many parts of Nigeria is also a factor for many Nigerians who do not own ‘‘basic’ household assets, including microwaves and freezers.

“We haven’t thought of repairing our damaged microwave, as we are now used to warming with gas. But light is a major reason why we haven’t thought of it,” Moel, who lives with her family in Isolo area of Lagos, said.

Wasiu Alli, a resident of Igando in Lagos, said the epileptic electricity in his area is the reason why he has yet to purchase either a freezer or a microwave.

“My decision to not get a freezer stems from the reality of our erratic power supply in the Obadore, LASU-Igando area of Lagos State. In the last two months when the light was stable, I bought a microwave to ease my kitchen chores. Little did I know that the power won’t last long.

“I intended to get the freezer by December, but now I would rather just put the money into something else than buy it and allow it to rust away due to non-usage,” he said.