Several events in 2024 were gripping enough to make news rounds, set social media ablaze, and have people from all spheres of life weighing in.
These incidents made their way to the top of the news, where many people have become desensitized to news broadcasts due to an oversaturated reporting culture.
As a result, residents in this West African country of Nigeria utilized the internet to investigate these events, seeking more insight into the subject on everyone’s lips.
While social media channels have become a primary source of information, especially among young people, Nigerians still utilized Google search engines in 2024 to get updates on events that affected them directly or otherwise.
With that said, here are the most Googled news updates in Nigeria in 2024, according to data from the Google Year in 2024.
Top 5 events in 2024 that caught the attention of most Nigerians
Due to Nigeria’s longstanding involvement in international events, the country was heavily invested in the 2024 U.S. elections.
Nigerians kept a close eye on the campaign, especially because it included a high-stakes matchup between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Furthermore, Nigerians were eager to learn how each candidate approached immigration policies, as many Nigerians still hope to travel to the US for study, work, or vacation.
Nigerians were moved to discussion, introspection, and conversations of patriotism as a new national anthem the current administration issued that Nigeria returns to its first national anthem which was composed in 1959 by Lillian Jean Williams.
This was a shift from the national anthem that has been in use since 1978, when Pa Benedict Odiase, a Nigerian native drafted the country’s second and indigenous national anthem.
Due to the country’s frequent blackouts and system breakdowns, Nigerians’ frustration with the country’s power sector grew in 2024, owing to frequent collapses of the national grid.
Seeing as homes, businesses, and public services depend on energy, any news pertaining to the system had an immediate impact on millions of Nigerians, as they always took to the internet to be updated on any new developments.
Additionally, businesses that depended on reliable energy experienced a decline, which raised operating expenses.
As Nigerians struggled with inflation and growing living expenses, the topic of the national minimum wage garnered a lot of attention.
There were demonstrations in 2024 as a result of the cost of living skyrocketing as the housing, food, and petrol expenses exceeded many people’s incomes.
As a result, the workers’ unions in the West African country coordinated rallies and strikes calling for a significant raise in the minimum wage, which compelled the government to raise it from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000.
In January, explosives kept in a private home in Oyo state, Nigeria, exploded, killing at least two persons and injuring scores more.
During a search and rescue effort in a neighborhood of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Lagos, the commercial center of Nigeria, emergency services and security personnel utilized bulldozers to remove rubble.
The devastating explosion shocked the nation, drawing attention to safety and regulatory issues. Nigerians followed the event closely for weeks, as new developments on this event, months later continue to make headlines.
