The outbreak of monkey pox which was reported by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) dominated searches on Internet search engine — Google — this week.
Google’s Spokesman, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, made this known in a dispatch to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
According to him, the week’s top trending search terms on Google Nigeria are dominated by national news.
He stated that “the NCDC recently stated that the first case of monkey pox was reported on Sept. 22 in Bayelsa.
“As at Monday 31, other suspected cases had been reported across seven states including Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River.
“The Chief Executive Officer of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said in a statement that the centre had activated an emergency operation centre to coordinate investigation into the outbreak and also workout appropriate preventive measures across affected states.
“Concerned Nigerians raced to Google to search for information on causes, symptoms and prevention of the disease.”
Kola-Ogunlade said Nigerians bid farewell this week to former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Victor Malu, who died in a hospital in Cairo on Oct. 9.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari, in a condolence message, noted that Malu demonstrated incredible courage and leadership during his reign as chief of army staff and even in his retirement.
“Well-wishers visited Google to read more about Malu’s achievements,’’ Kola-Ogunlade said.
The Google manager said that in the world of sports, football lovers celebrated Nigeria’s 1- 0 win over Zambia during the third round of the World Cup qualifiers match held on Oct.7 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo.
He added that the win qualified Super Eagles for FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Google spokesman said “Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, expressed excitement about the World Cup qualification.
“This saw excited fans racing to Google search to get more details about the match,’’ he said.
Kola-Ogunlade said University of Lagos suspension rumour also got people’s attention online.
He noted that the management of the university had condemned rumours that they suspended a final year student of the institution for dancing with the statue of former vice-chancellor.
He added that students of the institution posted a video on social media of a 400 level student from Faculty of Arts dancing with a statue of former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe.
“Nigerians reacted negatively to the video, which went viral. This sparked rumours that the student involved was rusticated from the university.
“Concerned citizens raced to Google to get updated information about the situation.”
Google Trends launched in May 2006 allows one to see how popular search terms and its demography have been over time on Google.