What we gleaned from Google search trends of Nigerians in August 2021

August 2021 is an exciting month. The world, Africa and Nigeria, in particular, experienced its share of the exciting, not so exciting and the absurd. We were interested in what was top on people’s minds in the past month.

One way of finding what is of great interest to folks is to analyse what they searched on Google. Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what Nigerians have been searching for and asking Google.

So, we checked out the top questions Nigerians asked and the keywords they searched in the month of August. And, we found out that Nigerians are interested in:

Voting on BBNaija

The sixth edition of the lifestyle entertainment show, Big Brother Naija also known as Big Brother Naija: Shine Ya Eye premiered on the 24th of July. Since then, spin-off conversions from the daily lives of housemates have dominated the conversations on the social space.

According to the Google report, the top trending question by Nigerians in August is How to vote on BBNaija 2021?

This is largely expected as voting who stays or leaves the house is the only part the viewers play in the entire show and the most important part of the show too. Because the number of votes gathered decides who stays at the end of the elimination weeks and who stays.

Nigerian fans of the reality show needed to get accustomed to the new voting process to save their favourite housemates.

The voting frenzy was particularly heightened by the relationship between Tega, a housemate who is married outside of the house and Boma a young man who many considered as a kiss and tell. Outrage followed the appearance of videos of both in some intimate positions and a lot of people punished them with their voting as they were both evicted one after the other.

Happenings in Afghanistan

Three weeks ago, Islamist group, the Taliban took control of the country’s capital, Kabul following the sudden withdrawal of American forces from Afghan soil. This follows its capture of other major cities and the exit of the sitting president, Hamid Karzai.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that “with this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war”. This comes nearly 20 years after US forces led an invasion to topple the Taliban.

Since taking power the Taliban have sought to portray themselves as more tolerant, but incidents of brutality and repression are still being reported in parts of Afghanistan.

With over 15 years of war with Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, unknown gunmen and other violent crimes, a lot of Nigerians were possibly drawing similarities between the beleaguered country and theirs. One of the top searched questions is What is happening in Afghanistan?

Although the group has promised to respect the rights of women, many fear a return to the way they were treated when the Taliban were previously in power. Women were forced to cover their faces outside and suffered harsh punishments for minor transgressions.

Many Nigerians are hopeful that the same does not happen here.

Sports, EPL and Paralympics

Nigerians love sports in an unexplainable way. Of the top 10 searched words in August 2021, over half were sports-related. These include Paralympics, Lukaku / Romelu Lukaku, champions league draw, EPL results and Messi transfer.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Tokyo, Japan between 24 August and 5 September 2021.

For many Nigerians, the Paralympics was succour as the country won a total of 10 medals (4 golds, 1 silver and 5 bronze medals). It won just a silver and a bronze medal at the main Olympic event.

The football transfer season saw Belgian football player, Romelu Lukaku returned to Chelsea football club after a sour stint in 2011 when he arrived at Stamford Bridge from Anderlecht. Lukaku has eight years of Premier League experience under his belt.

He made 15 Chelsea appearances in three seasons, two of which were largely spent on loan, before moving on to Everton, Manchester United and Inter Milan. During that time, he scored 113 goals in the division, taking him up to 20th place on the list of all-time Premier League goalscorers.

Argentine star, Lionel Messi also made a major move to French club, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) within the same period (11 August). The 34-year-old signed a two-year, $104-million reported worth contract to join forces with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria and Sergio Ramos, among others. He will wear the number 30 jersey.