According to Google Trends, break-up, plagiarism and bank alerts were the trending topics on its search engine from September 14-20.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, communications and public affairs manager for Anglophone West Africa, made the disclosure in a statement released to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
He said: “On Google Trends this week, Arik Airlines gets their wings back, a deputy director earns reprimand for plagiarism and one of Hollywood’s biggest celebrity marriages sadly comes to an end. Joy and agitation splits across two states with the recent release of NECO results.
“Nigerian fans unite to the groovy sounds of a musical bank alert as the Federal Government of Nigeria readies itself to begin assessment of one million job applicants.
“A Federal Government initiative, N-Power, for job creation and empowerment, aimed at endowing young Nigerians with lifelong skills got people’s attention online.
“This initiative is under the Social Investment Programme and intends to make a difference in the lives of the young applicants and their communities.
“The current assessment will be based on candidates’ specific chosen programmes like Teach, Agro, Health, Creative and Build, and the final 500,000 will be picked to fill the available positions.
The temporary suspension of Arik Air’s operation, Kola-Ogunlade, says was also a dominant topic.
“Following the disruption, the carrier, dominant in Nigeria, explained in a statement that subsequent scheduled flights were operated with extra flights.
“The airline, citing issues with renewing insurance due to the two-day public holiday to mark the Eid celebration, reassured its customers of a re-booking of their flights.
“This was especially after some speculation that the operational suspension was due to unpaid aviation fuel bills.”
He added that Nigeria had been recently plagued with a series of national issues; mostly economic and security challenges and more recently a plagiarism scandal.
“Remember the Melanie Trump versus Michelle Obama speech scandal? Well, it has proven to be a national issue as a deputy director in the presidency may have to vacate his seat and face disciplinary proceedings for indulging in plagiarism.
“In launching a national re-orientation campaign ‘Change Begins with Me’, some parts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech turned out to have plagiarized President Barack Obama’s famous 2008 victory speech. The president duly apologised while promising to administer an appropriate reprimand to the responsible parties.
On why bank alerts rended, Kola-Ogunlade said, “check your phones everyone, do you have a bank alert? No! Not a cash deposit alert from your bank, but P-Square’s newest single on your media playlist’’.
He further noted that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s split got people’s attention online.
“The admirable couple we all loved, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will be going their different ways as Jolie has filed for divorce from Pitt. The couple, parents of six children, only got married in 2014 but had been together since 2006 having co-starred in the movie ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’.
“Jolie is a UN special envoy for refugee issues and Pitt has been helping with rebuilding New Orleans for years after Hurricane Katrina. This is perhaps one of Hollywood’s highest profile splits in recent time.
“So much that world renowned Madame Tussauds in London reacted on Twitter that it had separated Angelina and Brad’s mannequins.”
