Obi, Bianca, Putin, ASUU strike top Nigerians’ Google search in H1

Latest Google trends released yesterday have revealed that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, emerged as one of the top three most-searched people in Nigeria in the last six months.

Other top trending people in Nigeria within the first half of the year are Bianca Ojukwu and the Russian President, Vladmir Putin and embattled police officer, Abba Kyari.

The five-month ASUU strike also ranked among the trending moments on Google search trends in the country. Other trending things include songs and movies searched for by Nigerians in half-year 2022.

Google in the report, said: “The first half of 2022 has been eventful for Nigerians. Between politics, high-profile deaths, sports personalities, blockbuster movies and TV series, Nollywood actors, musicians and songs that became very catchy; Nigerian netizens turned to Google to find out more.

“The top three trending people in Nigeria in the first half of the year are Obi, Putin and Ojukwu. Obi is a Nigerian businessman and politician who served as the governor of Anambra State three separate times from 2006 to 2014.

“Putin, Russia’s President also grabbed the attention of Nigerians in the first six months of this year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became topical across the globe.

Bianca, the widow of the late Biafran warlord, Chukuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, also led search interest by Nigerians when she slapped Ebelechukwu, wife of the immediate past governor of Anambra Willie Obiano. A second slap comes in at number five on the list after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in March.”

Google added that AFCON 2022 topped the list of most searched moments. Senegal beat Egypt in the final match of AFCON to emerge a winner.

“The ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that has seen the majority of Nigerian students in public tertiary institutions stay out of classes for five months is also a top moment that captured the interest of Nigerians online,” it added.

“The song, Buga, by Kizz Daniel and Tekno is the number one trending song in the period under review. Blood sisters, a Nigerian series on Netflix starring Nancy Isime and Ini Dima-Okojie topped the list of top trending movies and TV Series by Nigerians from January to June 2022,” Google disclosed.

Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what Nigerians have been searching for and asking Google. Google processes more than 40,000 search queries every second. This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.