1. Hoverboard
–
a self-balancing two-wheeled board resemble a skateboard without wheels.
It’s one of the most trendy and most visible gadgets and
fashion items that rocked the year 2015 and also a common feature in many music
videos.
2. MTV
base at 10. The premium music channel created for Africa by the MTV
network, MTV base clocked 10 years this year and it was celebrated with various
events and funfair across Africa which climaxed with the MTV base Mama Awards
Kwazulu-Natal held in Durban, South Africa.
3. The
Kardashian – Still remains one of the top favourite TV reality shows
on E! channel. With the new season of Keeping Up With The Kardashian rocking
the airwaves. There various breaking news recorded by the showbiz family among
which are Bruce doing a transgender operation and he is now known as a female
with the name Caitlyn Jenner and ended up on the cover of Vanity Fair. She was
later to be given an award at . Jenner amassed over one million Twitter followers
in four hours and three mintues; she was the second most searched person on
Google in 2015. Rob is fighting obesity and recently diagnosed of
Diabetes. Kylie Jenner made the
headlines this year when her Lip Gloss, Lip Kit sold out online within a minute
of release. Kendall is fast becoming a top fashion model, modeling for big
names like Givenchy, Marc Jacobs among others. She’s made the cover of most top
fashion magazines as well. Kris, Khloe and Kim are still holding it down with
their fashion label, DASH and the TV reality show.
To show how popular the Kardashian girls are, Kim's,
Khloé's, Kylie's, Kourtney Kardashian's, and Kendall Jenner's Instagram
followers, total nearly 217 million fans. Kim later had baby number 2 for Kanye
West in December.
4. Wizkid
–
Though starting the year on a dull note, the Starboy was able to find his feet
by the middle of the year churning out singles like Show Expensive Shit, Sound
It with Ojuelegba taking it all to the next level. Wizkid receives accolades
when top American RnB star, Alicia Keys released an online video of the diva
dancing to Ojuelegba. More props came the Starboy’s way when Drake and UK based
rap star. Skepta jumped on the song. Ojuelegba was later ranked 12th biggest song of 2015 by US Fader
magazine. He also got a spot on R-Kelly’s latest album on the song, I Just Want
To Thank You.
5. Mayweather
vs Pacquio – This is one of the biggest and most hyped
boxing bout in history. And of course the biggest bout of 2015. The 12 round
boxing bout saw Mayweather winning the match. The fight purse was in excess of
$300m. With May taking over $200m and Pac smiling home with over $100m.
6. Genevieve
Nnaji – The Nollywood Diva and Africa’s Julia Roberts continues to
dazzle her fans and movie lovers in various movies she starred in. The star
actress recently premiered her self-produced movie, Road to Yesterday.
7. Pope
–
Pope Francis is no doubt one of the most visible personalities in 2015. The
pope became a social media sensation with his many youthful posture and
statements which resonates with the youth audience whom most times turns it
into hip-hop acts. The Vatican is hoping to inspire a younger generation with
emojis and hashtags using social media strategies.
8. SA
Xenophobia – the country witnessed another Xenophobia
attacks by South Africans on other Africans who lives in the country. The wave of xenophobic attacks against foreign
nationals occurred in South Africa's Isipingo located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Thousands were displaced from their homes and up to five
people were reported to have been killed when violence spread through the
province. It began a week after Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini, was reported to
have said that foreigners "should pack their bags and go back home".
The king later denied making those comments but within days the violence had
spread to the country's most populous city Johannesburg.
9.
Europe Migration - More than one million refugees and migrants
have reached Europe by sea since the start of 2015, the United Nations refugee
agency (UNHCR) says.
More than 80% of the 1,000,573 people arrived in Greece,
with the majority landing on Lesbos island, it said.
About 844,000 travelled to Greece from nearby Turkey. Most
of the others - over 150,000 - crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
The migrant crisis is Europe's worst since World War Two.
9. Greece Debt Crisis - On
June 30, 2015, Greece became the first developed country to fail to make an IMF
loan repayment. At that time, Greece's government had debts of €323bn. On July
13, after 17 hours of negotiations, Eurozone leaders reached a provisional
agreement on a third bailout programme to save Greece from bankruptcy. But a
final deal needs further negotiations, and requires ratification in several
national parliaments.
12.
Drake vs Meek Mill – The Beef of The year started when Meek Mill
accused Drake of not writing his own bars. Taking to Twitter, Meek said “Stop
comparing drake to me too.... He don't write his own raps!” before adding,
“That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out!” Drak later went ahead to drop a dis track
Charge Up and follow it up with yet another dis track Back To Back.
13. MTN
SIM ish – It was like an April Fool story when the story broke out
that the telecom giant, MTN was fined to the tune of a whopping $5.2b (N1.04
Trillion) for defaulting on an earlier agreement the telecommunication company
had with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for failure to deactivate 5.2
million unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards from its network. The
offence attracts N200,000 per SIM card, amounting to N1.04 trillion for a total
of 5.2 million defaulting SIM cards.
14. Oil
Price Fall - Global oil prices have fallen sharply over the
past seven months, leading to significant revenue shortfalls in many energy
exporting nations, while consumers in many importing countries are likely to
have to pay less to heat their homes or drive their cars.
From 2010 until mid-2014, world oil prices had been fairly
stable, at around $110 a barrel. But since June prices have more than halved.
Brent crude oil has now dipped below $50 a barrel for the first time since May
2009 and US crude is down to below $48 a barrel.
The reasons for this change are twofold - weak demand in
many countries due to insipid economic growth, coupled with surging US
production.
15.
Crumbling Forex – The continue dwindling fortune of the Nigeria’s
foreign exchange especially the most popular ‘Almighty Dollar’ now exchanging
for N180 to a Dollar is serious causing undue hardship on businesses.
The dollar which was hovering between N180 and N200 a year
ago hit an all-time high of N280 this December and has been predicted to
continue the fall and may possibly be exchange for N300 by January 2016 if
stringent measures are not quickly introduced to check the downward slide by
the CBN.
16.
Government change – Nigeria witnessed a change of power on May 29
when for the first time in 16 years of the country’s new democratic setting, an
opposition party took over power at the centre. The All Progressives Congress
(APC) who won the presidential election in last year’s election took full
charge of the nation’s affairs.
17.
Paris Bombing - Terrified concert-goers left a trail of blood
in their wake as they dragged their dead friends along a street and desperately
to clung window ledges while trying to flee the carnage in Paris.
They were among dozens fleeing through a back exit of the
Bataclan theatre, where four gunmen mercilessly fired into the crowd, killing
up to 100 people.
The chilling footage emerged as French President Francois
Hollande said the Islamic State orchestrated the worst attacks in France for 70
years, declaring it 'act of war' and vowing to 'mercilessly' strike back.
Few days after, the French prosecutor has confirmed that the
suspected "mastermind" of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was
killed in a police raid.
18.
Wande Coal sophomore album - Wande Coal’s Wanted Album
breaks the Internet with over 2m sold on iTunes
Wande Coal literally set Nigeria on fire with the release of
his sophomore album, Wanted released earlier this week. Wanted and Wande Coal
trended for over 48 hours as accolades kept pouring in for the gifted singer.
Despite efforts by pirates who have been illegally uploading
the album for free downloads, sales of the album continue to rise online and
offline.
19.
Olamide - 2015 is indeed a great year for Olamide. From churning out
great street bangers such as Bobo, Melo Melo, Lagos Boys, etc to capping it with the release of his fifth
studio album, Eyan Mayweather which clocked #1 spot on iTunes. He also featured
in countless collabos (Harrysong – Reggae Blues, Masterkraft - Indomi,
Pepenazzi - Ilegal, Davideo – The Money, Reminisce – Local Rappers, Ycee –
Jagaban, the list is endless), most of which becomes hit songs. He was also
voted Nigeria’s Number 1 artiste on MTV base. He also pulled a fantastic show
with the second edition of his yearly event, OLIC.
20.
Empire 2 – The second season of the popular American TV series
continues its winning streak among viewers with its dynamic plots, music and
fashion. The show centers around a hip hop music and entertainment company,
Empire Entertainment, and the drama among the members of the founders' family
as they fight for control of the company.
21. Zee
World – The Indian drama channel on DSTV is a toast of many female
TV viewers. With an array of popular
drama that includes Married Again, The Promise, Saloni, etc. The channel’s
popularity keeps growing daily.
22.
Rotimi – The Nigerian, Olurotimi Akinosho better known by his stage
name, Rotimi, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and model. He's best
known for his roles as Darius Morrison on the Starz Network's Boss, and Dre on
Power. There were huge buzz around him when it was announced he will be
starring in the second season of the 50 Cent’s owned TV drama.
23.
Chelsea – Things are not looking bright now at Stamford Bridge as
Chelsea continues to wobble and fumble. The English team has been fighting
tooth and nail to get up to the top 10 of the Premiership but it’s been a huge
dream to achieve. This had led to the sack of the coach, Jose Maurinho.
24.
Maunriho - Jose Mourinho was been sensationally sacked as Chelsea
manager after a 2-1 defeat by Leicester compounded his side’s miserable start
to the season, leaving the club with no choice but to dismiss him, despite a
possible £40m pay-out.
The Portuguese boss guided his side to the Premier League
title in May, but Monday's loss was their ninth of the campaign, leaving them
in 16th place, just a point above the relegation places.
25.
Nigeria Under 23 and 17 Soccer Teams - Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets
successfully retained the FIFA U-17 World Cup after beating Mali 2-0 at the
Estadio Sausalito Vina del Mar, with Victor Osimhen scoring his record-breaking
tenth goal of the tournament. The U-23 national team also
defeats Algeria 2-1 to emerge African Champions.
26. GT
Create Mini Cooper Giveaway - Foremost African Financial
Institution; Guaranty Trust Bank plc had the 3rd edition of the GTCrea8 Mini
Cooper giveaway.
The promo which was launched in 2013 provides a platform for
the Bank to reward one lucky GTCrea8 customer with a brand new Mini Cooper car.
The raffle draw for the Mini Cooper giveaway was held on
Wednesday, 9th of December, 2015, at the GTBank Head office in Lagos.
Since the launch of the campaign, two lucky GTCrea8
customers have been rewarded with a brand new mini cooper car.
In 2013, Shalom Wigwe Elisha – a 2nd year student of
medicine at the University of Lagos became the very first recipient of the
prestigious car.
Maryam Adebiyi – a student of Lagos state Polytechnic was
the next to win the car in 2014.
In addition to the car giveaway, 90 undergraduates have been
rewarded with scholarships worth 150,000 each over the last 3 years.
27.
Kobe Bryant resignation - In a poem posted on the Players' Tribune
website, five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant says that this season will be his
last.
The 37-year-old Lakers player "is currently struggling
through the worst season of his illustrious 20-year NBA career," as
Reuters puts it.
The injury-plagued star has been very well compensated for
his disappointing performance, reports ESPN:
... Despite the rough start to the season, the Lakers have
publicly supported Bryant. Lakers coach Byron Scott told ESPN on Friday that he
would not bench the 17-time All-Star for his poor play.
Bryant is in the final year of a two-year deal that will pay
him $25 million in 2015-16, making him the NBA's highest-paid player this
season.
28.
Pepsi Long Throat - the popular Twitter campaign
#ThingsILongThroatFor? Well, turns out, it was a smart launch for the reveal of
the new 60CL Pepsi bottle, AKA The Long Throat Bottle.
Wow! The campaign set Twitter on fire! Nigerian celebrities
like Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Seyi Shay went on Twitter to announce the things
they Long-Throat for!
Well, the new 60CL Pepsi bottle is not only now 20% bigger
than the previous Pepsi bottle, but it also still retails for the same price.
So it contains even more for those who thirst for longer refreshment, longer
satisfaction and longer enjoyment! This increase also applies to Mirinda, 7UP
and Teem.
29.
Coke Share A Coke – This is one of the brands campaign Nigerians
won’t easily forget in a long time to come. The campaign allows consumers to
buy personalized Coke (with their names or that of a friend or a family) in
glass, Can and PET from retail outlets across the country. Consumers who were
unable to find their names in-store had the chance to create their own
personalized Coke online. The Coke products had over 600 popular Nigerian names
on it while the campaign lasted.
30.
Lamar Odom – He was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel
and went into coma for days. He was to later tested positive for cocaine. Not
really surprising, since he had a drug problem, and he seemed to be spiraling
out of control. However, Khloe Kardashian, who stayed by Lamar’s side during
his travails, may have saved his life.
31.
Bobi Kristina – The troubled daughter of Whitney Houston and
Bobby Brown was found unresponsive in a bathtub in late January 2015. Brown was
kept in a medically induced coma for several months; she died in hospice care
on July 26, 2015, at the age of 22.
32.
Keshi sacked – The former Eagles coach was sacked by NFF after
series of poor outings and amidst rumours of applying for a job in Cote
d’Ivoire while having a contract with NFF. The NFF made the announcement amid
reports that Keshi, who led the Super Eagles to the round of 16 at the World
Cup last summer, applied for the vacant Cote d'Ivoire coaching job. The coach
also lost his wife in December.
33.
Prince Williams and Kate Baby #2 - Kate and William have welcomed
a princess into their family. The Duchess of Cambridge went into labor in the
early hours on May 2, checking into St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, the same
hospital both her son and husband were born in. She then gave birth at about
3:34 a.m. ET to a girl weighing 8 pounds and 3 ounces.
34.
Russia, Turkey Face-off - Turkey says it shot down a Russian-made
warplane on the Syrian border for violating Turkish airspace and this had led
to a diplomatic row between the two countries, with Turkey refusing to
apologize for shooting down the planes.
A Turkish military statement said the plane violated Turkish
airspace in Hatay province and was warned "10 times in five
minutes". Turkey and Russia exchanged bellicose language after the downing
of the plane, raising fears in the international community that the Syrian
conflict could spiral into something wider.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the downing of the
plane would have "serious consequences for Russia's relationship with
Turkey." The shooting of the plane, Putin said, "represents a stab in
the back by the terrorists' accomplices. I can't describe what has happened today
in any other way. Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air
missile from a Turkish F-16 jet.
35. APC
Audu’s Death - All Progressives Congress for governorship election in Kogi, Abubakar Audu,
died few hours after the state’s governorship election. His sudden death
ignited a constitutional crisis and many have said it has exposed a gap in the
Nigerian constitution. The constitution does not have any provision for the
kind of political logjam that has developed in Kogi, where a governorship
candidate died before conclusion of the election.
36.
FIFA house of corruption - In 2015, U.S. federal prosecutors
disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with FIFA,
the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.
Near the end of May 2015, fourteen people were indicted in
connection with an investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation
Division (IRS-CI) into wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering. The
United States Attorney General simultaneously announced the unsealing of the
indictments and the prior guilty pleas by four football executives and two
corporations.
In total, seven current FIFA officials were arrested at the
Hotel Baur au Lac in Zürich on May 27. They were preparing to attend the 65th
FIFA Congress, which was scheduled to include the election of the president of
FIFA. They are expected to be extradited to the United States on suspicion of
receiving US$150 million in bribes. There was also a simultaneous raid on the
CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, and later, two further men handed themselves in
to police for arrest: Jack Warner and marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco.Two
further arrests of FIFA officials at the hotel occurred in December 2015.
The arrests case triggered Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Germany and Switzerland to open or intensify separate criminal investigations
into top FIFA officials for corruption.
37. Get
Outta Here – Hard work and patience do pays. As Nigerian
comedian Francis
Odega fortune has changed. Dude now smiles to the bank with
endorsements and cameos that are coming his way after American rapper 50 Cent
shares his viral video ‘Get Outta Here’ on social media.
38.
Fast and furious 7 - Furious 7 is a 2015 American action film
directed by James Wan and written by Chris Morgan. It is the seventh
installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel,
Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris
'Ludacris' Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Kurt Russell, and Jason Statham.
Furious 7 premiered in Los Angeles on April 1, 2015, and was
first released in Australia on April 2, 2015, and then in the United States on
April 3, 2015. The film was also released in 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX
internationally. Upon release, the film became a critical and commercial
success, with praise being aimed at the film's action sequences and its tribute
to Walker. The film grossed $397.6 million worldwide in its first five days of
release, which is the third-highest-grossing opening of all time. The film has
grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the
franchise after just twelve days, the second-highest-grossing film of 2015[11]
and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time.
39.
Adele - ADELE 25 is the third studio album recorded by English
singer and songwriter Adele. Titled as a reflection of her life and frame of
mind at 25 years old, 25 is a "make-up record".
Amid heavy promotion and an anticipated release, the album
was released to critical and commercial success. 25 debuted at number one in
more than 10 markets and broke first-week sales records in multiple countries,
including the United Kingdom and United States; in the US, the album sold 3.38
million copies in its first week of release, marking the largest single-week
sales for an album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking point-of-sale music
purchases in 1991.
40.
Dance With Peter – Is a dancing competition that was initiated by
one-half of the dynamic musical twins. P Square which was sponsored by
Globacom. It has as it judges, Peter, Kaffy
and Don Flex. It was hosted by Ehiz. The dance competition was
eventually won by Kelvin Ayanruoh who smiled home with a brand new jeep and
N3m.
41.
Kunle Afolayan – The hard working film maker, continue his
winning streak with his highly publicized 2015 movie production, The CEO which
many movie buffs are on the lookout for. The movie was shot at different
locations including Lagos, Paris and Kenya. The movie parades stellar casting
among whom are two time Grammy award winner, Angelique Kidjo, Jimmy Jean Louis,
Wale Ojo, Fatym Layache, Nico Ranagio, Kemi Lala Akindoju, veteran Nollywood
actress, Hilda Dokunbo and several others....
He was made Air
France and Peaugot brand ambassador.
42.
Jidenna the classic man – He first made the news in Nigeria and
courted the wrath of many Nigerians who lashed at him on social media when the
news of him bringing armed bodyguard with AK47s to his father’s burial broke
out. But he later warmed his way into people’s heart with his monster,
chart-breaking single, summer hit Classic Man, a single off his EP The Eephus.
43.
Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest reigning British monarch.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the throne aged just 25 as her
exhausted country struggled to recover from the ravages of World War II, made
history as she became the UK's longest-reigning monarch.
At about 5:30pm (1630 GMT) on Wednesday September 9th,
Elizabeth, 89, who is also the nation's oldest ever monarch, surpassed the 63
years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her
great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne.
44. Linda
Ikeji N500m Mansion – The celebrity blogger sent all mouth wagging with her eye-popping
multi-million naira mansion which she acquired in Banana Island. She wrote
on Twitter: “Lol. My
house is not N450m… where did y’all get that from? It’s over N500m. And thanks
for the kind words. Love to u all,” she wrote.
The
property has on three floors with six bedrooms en-suite, two living rooms,
a media room and a cinema room among other things.
Her
new neighbours include Forbes listed billionaire Mike Adenuga, Sayyu Dantata and many heads
of major Nigerian companies.
45.
2face at 40 – The African pop star celebrated his 40th
birthday and on November 24 2face Idibia
made the headlines for the chieftaincy title that was conferred on him by the
people of Kaduna.
2face Idibia was made the ‘Tafindan Kudenda’ which means
‘Ambassador of Peace’.
46. HID
Awolowo – The matriarch of the Awolow dynasty died on Saturday,
September 19, few days to her 100 birthday. And she was later buried on
November 25 in a golden casket.
47.
Shuga season 4 – The popular MTV TV drama continues to intrigue
viewers. Shuga is a television soap
opera that was first aired in November 2009 on MTV Base as part of an
initiative dubbed "MTV Staying Alive Ignite!"An HIV awareness Campus
Tour “MTV Shuga CampusTour” was held to herald the season 4 of the TV drama.
Like in previous seasons, Shuga 4 focuses on a range of
themes, which include adolescent girls, stigma, prevention of mother to child
transmission (PMTCT), HIV testing, gender based violence, first sex and the
disclosure of HIV status.
48.
Aisha Buhari watch - The
Nigeria president’s wife caused an uproar, especially on social media with the
Cartier wrist-watch she wore on the day of the president’s inauguration. With
many speculating that the wrist-watch cost millions which was against the
modesty being preached by the president and the new government.
49. Soundcity, P-Square
face-off: There
was an online rancor among the two parties that was sparked off by P-Square
demanding high performance fee from the premium music channel. In a statement titled ‘What
has Soundcity ever done for P-Square?’ which they shared on their website, following
Peter Okoye’s outburst on Twitter, the music station said they stopped airing P-Square’s
music video since January. Part of the press statement read thus: “We invited
#PSquare to one of our annual events last December 2014 and they insisted we
pay a certain amount of money. We reasonably asked, what is the least we can
offer? this was us foregoing the fact that we had invested a lot in #PSquare’s
career as music talents / artistes & entertainers….”
The feedback was, “WHAT HAS
SOUNDCITY EVER DONE FOR PSQUARE? TELL ME ONE THING SOUNDCITY HAS EVER DONE FOR
PSQUARE” (Jude Okoye, Manager).
50.
Facebook - Facebook Speeds Past 1.55 Billion Users And Q3 Estimates
With $4.5B Revenue
Facebook’s growth continues as it hit 1.55 billion users and
beat the street’s estimates in its Q3 2015 earnings with $4.5 billion in
revenue and $0.57 earnings per share, up a big 11.3% from $4.04 billion last
quarter.
Facebook’s monthly user count was up sharply to 4.02%
quarter over quarter from Q2’s 3.47% growth. That shows that while it might
have hit sign-up saturation in its core markets, it’s still adding plenty of
users in the developing world.
Analysts estimated Facebook would see $4.37 billion in
revenue and $0.52 EPS.
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