The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s

The world was a different space In the early 1990s, especially in how communication, learning, and access to information was. 

There were no mobile phones, no social media, and no internet cafes. no mobile phones, no social media. 

The only available telephone service was through landlines provided by NITEL, which were expensive and unreliable. 

A single thunderstorm could knock the lines out, and NITEL staff had to be contacted to restore the connection.

As history shows, later, NITEL introduced coin operated phone booths, but they were few and scattered. Around 1995 or 1996, new booths that used telephone credit cards were introduced. 

These were more accessible and installed in public places, including university campuses. In Barau Dikko Hall hostel in Tudun Wada, Zaria, there is one of such, and its function  as one of the vibrant.

A few shopkeepers offered commercial use of their cards. You’d collect a card from the shopkeeper, make your call, and return the card for the balance to be checked. 

The number of minutes used, determined the amount to pay. That was how communication took place in the 90’s.

In 1996, NITEL launched its mobile telephone service not GSM, but a bulky analog service affordable only to the wealthy. It was fascinating to see someone making a call, as elders lament. Some even used Thuraya phones, which relied on satellite connections and were mostly used by the elite.

The real mobile revolution came in 2001 during the Obasanjo administration with the introduction of GSM and CDMA services. CDMA, offered by providers like Intercellular and Starcomms, was more like an upgrade of landline systems and lacked the features of GSM. 

GSM kicked off with Econet, which would later evolve into Airtel. MTN followed, then Globacom. At first, mobile phones could only make calls and send texts. 

Smartphones hadn’t arrived yet. Nokia and Samsung dominated the market. The legendary Nokia 3310, for instance, was a popular choice.

The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s _The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s _The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s

Affording such requires long term saving and preparation, as many people  bought Nokia 3310s and SIM cards. The phones cost around ₦35,000 and SIM cards ₦30,000. A significant sum back then. 

Many students could not afford one, until NYSC year and to purchase a SIM card and phone during an MTN promotion. The SIM cost ₦9,500, and one had to wait two days for it to arrive from Lagos. 

My father once told me he saw a SIM card in South Africa being sold for the equivalent of ₦500 and predicted we’d get here someday. 

But when Glo introduced ₦1,000 SIM cards with per-second billing, others had to follow. By 2012, telecom companies offered free SIM cards on the street, expert prediction came alive.

The emergence of smartphones around 2013 changed every single narrative. Suddenly, phones came with cameras, internet capabilities, and apps. We could now browse the web from our palms, something unimaginable a few years earlier.

Many first heard of the internet in the late 1990s, Around 2000, people acknowledged email, without knowing what an email was until thereafter. 

In 2001,  people began to open mail accounts via internet cafes. where they helped out with the creation accounts. 

In 2002,people started visiting internet cafés regularly to check their  emails. Eventually, the frequency increased as many people discovered online communities. 

Yahoo Groups became a powerful platform for interaction with groups like Dandalin Siyasa, Yan Arewa, Raayi Riga, and Hausa da Hausawa allowed people, especially from Northern Nigeria to share thoughts on politics, religion, and more. 

These groups built connections that turned into real friendships over time. Many people today don’t even know Yahoo Groups existed, but they were an important part of digital social life before WhatsApp took over.

There were also websites like Gamji and ArewaOnline, which published insightful articles and news. Columnists like Muhammad Sanusi II, Aliyu Tilde, and Jaafar Jaafar made their mark there. 

To contribute a few articles, one must have a desktop computer at home, write on it, copy the files onto a floppy disk (and later a flash drive), and then go to the café to upload them. Laptops were not common then.

Facebook came into life in 2009, introduced by friends from Yahoo Groups. early Facebook connections were mostly from those groups, then gradually expanded to friends, family, and colleagues. 

By 2015, WhatsApp had taken over communication, allowing for pictures, voice messages, calls, and group chats. It became the new social hub.

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The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s

As many traveled to many parts of  Nigeria, Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin, Benin for school competitions,workshops, professional reorientation, today, all that has moved online. Zoom and similar platforms have made it possible to attend seminars from our living rooms. 

Back in the olden days, no one used PowerPoint or projectors, Lecturers wrote with chalk on blackboards, and we copied notes by hand.

Perhaps the most recent and transformative change is Artificial Intelligence. Today, AI can generate reports, answer questions, write content, and even create images. Just a few years ago, that would have sounded like science fiction.

In all, science and technology have profoundly reshaped how we communicate, learn, and interact over the past 30 years. 

The changes are not just technological, they’ve changed our lifestyle, habits, and how we view the world. And yet, as rapid as the past decades have been, more changes are still ahead.

The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s _The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s _The World Was a Different Space; In the early 1990s