Mohammed Bah Abba (1964–2010) was a teacher from

northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria (or Arewa, Arewancin Nijeriya) was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired t ...

who developed the

pot-in-pot refrigerator A pot-in-pot refrigerator, clay pot cooler or zeer () is an evaporative cooling refrigeration device which does not use electricity. It uses a porous outer clay pot (lined with wet sand) containing an inner pot (which can be ceramic glaze, glaze ...

in the 1990s. This refrigerator is extremely simple and does not require power, making it suitable for use in desert environments without easy access to electricity or repairs. It consists of a small glazed earthenware pot placed inside a larger unglazed one, with the space between the two filled with moist sand. The inner pot is filled with whatever is desired to be cooled (fruit, vegetables, drinks) and covered with a wet cloth. The evaporating water draws heat from the inside through the porous outer pot, cooling the interior by up to 14°C. Abba hailed from a family of potmakers and tapped into the large underemployed local workforce for the project. Local pot-makers he hired produced the first batch of 5,000 pot-in-pot refrigerators. He received the

Rolex Award for Enterprise Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

in 2001 and used his $75,000 award to make the invention available throughout Nigeria. Abba devised an educational campaign tailored to village life and the illiterate population featuring a video-recorded play by local actors to dramatise the benefits of the desert refrigerator. The pots sell at 40 US cents a pair.

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Mohammed Bah Abba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abba, Mohammed Bah 1964 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Nigerian inventors