Are you a muslim or do you have muslim relatives or friends? if yes, then the sighting of the moon and Eid al-Fitr celebration is nothing new to you. On the 28th and 29th of July 2014, Nigerians joined the Muslim brethren in celebration of the end of Ramadan, which according to a hadith attributed to Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, the Eid al-Fitr was instituted by the Prophet after his journey from Mecca to Medinah.
Eid al-Fitr is a day of great merriment and thanksgiving that Muslims celebrate with friends and family by preparing sweet delicacies, wearing new clothes and giving each other gifts. A common greeting during this holiday is Eid Mubarak, which means, “Have a blessed Eid!” . It is obvious that a lot of Nigerians anticipated this Muslims break, making it one of the top most searched topics on Google for the week.
Kano bomb blast:
The rate of insecurity in Nigeria has risen which is due to the number of bomb explosions that has rocked the country since October 2010. The joy and celebration of Nigerians was cut short after receiving shocking news of yet another bomb blast which occurred on the 28th of July, 2014 in Kano state. The Kano bomb blast also made it to the top list on Google Search for the week.
Ebola disease, Ebola virus symptoms:
Following the death of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian government official who died during a short visit to Nigeria and has put Nigeria, West Africa and the world at large on alert to the deadly Ebola virus which is spreading through the African continent. Fears about the spread of Ebola have ramped up because Sawyer also had a stopover in Ghana and changed planes in Togo.
The federal government of Nigeria along with other foreign countries have issued a number of Ebola alert warning and measures in prevention of the deadly virus. it has been reported that over one thousand people across west African countries such as Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – with the highest number of Ebola cases put at 454, has being recorded have been infected. Over six hundred of the Ebola victims have died of the virus. Even though only one case of death has being detected in Nigeria, Nigerians have taken to the interview to educate themselves more about the virus.
Didier Drogba:
If you are a football fan or Chelsea fan at that, you will be thrilled to know that Ivorian professional footballer and captain of the Ivory Coast national team, Didier Drogba, recently signed a one-year contract with Chelsea. The Ivory Coast striker, expressed his excitement to be back with the Blues, for whom he played with from 2004 to 2012.
Drogba won three Premier League titles, two Carling Cups, the UEFA Champions League and four FA Cups. He is the only player in history to score in four separate FA Cup finals. He made 341 appearances for the Blues, scored 157 goals making him the club’s fourth highest goalscorer of all time and in his first season helped the club win their first league title in 50 years. In October 2012 he was voted Chelsea’s greatest ever player by the club’s supporters. Little-wonder he made the top trends on Google search in Nigeria for the week.
NYSC:
The NYSC Batch-B candidates for 2014 are set to be deployed to their various parts of the country to observe the compulsory one year development scheme aimed at integrating and helping in creating entry-level jobs for many Nigerian youth.
The Director of Mobilization of the National Youth Service Corps, recently announced changes made by the agency to protect the lives of Corps members posted to the crisis-prone areas in the country. The NYSC has taken precautionary measures to make sure that none of the corps members are affected in the security situation that is taking place in some parts of the country. This was done by re-posting corp members who were originally posted to the crisis prone areas.
Over 97,000 prospective Youth Corps members have been drafted for the orientation programme set to commence on August 5, but the worries on the minds of parents and guardians across the country are of the safety of their wards while observing their service year.
Blessing Okagbare:
As you might already know, Blessing Okagbare is a Nigerian track and field athletes who specializes in long jumping and short sprints. She is also an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump, and world medallist in the 200 metres. But what you might not know is that she just added one more win to her long list of titles by winning the 200m sprint run at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
She also won the 100m race before winning her second gold at the tournament. Nigerians are excited that Blessing is making the country proud in light of the misfortunes that have
befallen the country in recent times. YOU GO GIRL!
Top Search question of the week:
What is ebola virus?
Following reports of victims that have died from the outbreak of the ebola virus that is on the spread in the African continent, this has caused and aroused a lot of curiosity among Nigerians as to what exactly the ebola virus is.
While a lot of people have taken to the internet to find out more about the ebola virus, below is a list of some precautionary measures issued by the US state department;
The suspected reservoirs for Ebola are fruit bats.
Transmission to humans is thought to originate from infected bats or primates that have become infected by bats.
Undercooked infected bat and primate (bush) meat transmits the virus to humans.
Human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill from the Ebola virus or their body fluids.
Transmission among humans is almost exclusively among caregiver family members or health care workers tending to the very ill.
The virus is easily killed by contact with soap, bleach, sunlight, or drying. A washing machine will kill the virus in clothing saturated with infected body fluids.
A person can incubate the virus without symptoms for 2-21 days, the average being 5-8 days before becoming ill. THEY ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS until they are acutely ill.
Only when ill does the viral load express itself first in the blood and then in other bodily fluids (to include vomit, feces, urine, breast milk, semen and sweat).
If you are walking around you are not infectious to others.
There are documented cases from Kikwit, DRC of an Ebola outbreak in a village that had the custom of children never touching an ill adult. Children living for days in small one room huts with parents who died from Ebola did not become infected.
You cannot contract Ebola by handling money, buying local bread or swimming in a pool.
There is no medical reason to stop flights, close borders, restrict travel or close embassies, businesses or schools.
As always practice good hand washing techniques, but you will not contract Ebola if you do not touch a dying person.
And remember the popular saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” and in the case of Ebola, it is the key to staying alive!