Millennials and Gen Z may share the same Lagos traffic and the same debates over jollof supremacy, but their timelines don’t sync. One grew up waiting for cybercafés to load Yahoo Messenger, the other grew up cancelling people on TikTok. The result? Two generations living in the same city but speaking entirely different cultural languages. Here’s a quick tour of the millennial markers that Gen Z just can’t understand.
1. Cybercafés
Back then, Lagosians queued at cybercafés, taking up numbers and waiting for a computer to become available for use. Now, Gen Z browses the internet with 5G speed and still complains about downtime. Nothing humbles you like waiting 15 minutes just to open Yahoo Mail.
2. Up NEPA
Does anyone even still say this? Millennials knew NEPA (National Electric Power Authority) like that neighbour who always let you down. Then came PHCN with a new name, but the lights still go off mid-football match. Today, Gen Z is familiar with Ikeja Electric, Prepaid meters, and Band A-Z.
3. The Glory Days of ₦50
From copper coins, the legendary fifty-naira note, to the redesigned thousand, and even the ‘cashless’ era. Millennials in Lagos have watched money lose both value and sometimes aesthetics. Gen Z will never be able to appreciate the times when you could eat a whole meal with N50.
4. Goody-Goody and Other Childhood Snacks
Goody-Goody, Speedy, Fishly, and other biscuits that probably broke more teeth than hearts. These were the real OG millennial snacks. Gen Z can only relate to imported gummies if, at all, they ever snack.
5. Xtracool Night Calls
Every Millennial had a romance that was enabled by free midnight calls. The anxious wait for the clock to strike 12, and the sweet nothings we whispered to our crushes till sunrise, was more memorable than Gen Z streaks and DMs. Peak romance was sending your crush N100 airtime for internet surfing.
6. The Satchetisation of Everything
Millennials didn’t just witness inflation; they lived through the era when everything shrank. Indomie packs got smaller, Oil started showing up in sachets, Gala became half air, and even milk and Milo moved from tins to endless sachets. Gen Z may rant on Twitter about “hard times,” but they’ll never know the heartbreak of stretching one Peak sachet for a family of four.
7. Trauma Warriors
Millennials survived the “end of the world” in 2000, battled chicken pox with calamine lotion, dodged Ebola with hand sanitizer, and scaled through COVID with vibes. It’s no wonder they walk around like trauma warriors. While Gen Z are the mental health warriors, they’ll journal, meditate, and cancel plans “for their peace”. Millennials have survived more plagues than Pharaoh’s Egypt, yet still show up for Friday night owambe.
Millennials walked so Gen Z could run, and complain about slow Wi-Fi. From cybercafés to TikTok, from Goody-Goody to shawarma, the Lagos story is one long rebrand with new packaging but the same drama. The truth? Both generations are just trying to survive in Nigeria, one day at a time.
