By Debo Popoola
Valentine comes once in a year, on every 14th of February. It is a day to celebrate loved ones, a day to merry and mingle and have fun. Lovers use the day to celebrate each other and this is always done by exchange of gift items and going out. Now that the cinema culture is gradually scrawling back into our society, many lovers will mostly like to visit the cinemas to see one or two movies. All these will definitely take a huge chunk from personal finances. But at present in Nigeria where many people are complaining of cash crunch, this year’s valentine might be the dullest of the valentines in years.
Already, the social media is buzzing with ladies complaining that their men have been reluctant when valentine issues are raised. Although valentine is supposed to be the responsibly of both lovers, but in our society, the male folk most times assumes the whole responsibility of taking his girl out and buying her gifts.
One particular economic reality that will affect the valentine celebration that comes up in few days is inflation: the recent loss of value of Naira against Dollar has resulted to hike in prices of collectable items, even those items that are not imported. Because Nigeria is an export dependent country, that is a lot of things we buy in the market are imported, the recent appreciation of Dollar against the Naira means importers will have to pay more Naira to buy Dollar before they can import these items, and this automatically result to increase in prices of these imported items– No wonder guys are not smiling.
But there is still a way out if coats can be cut according to sizes. Valentine can still be fun if moderation will be introduced in spending; after all, love is not always about giving and collecting expensive things.
