With Valentine’s Day coming on Friday, February 14th and many lovers planning to surprise their partners, we sampled six people who shared their plans for Valentine’s Day. For 80% of them, the celebration of Valentine’s Day is determined by economic realities and relationship status. If you have a promising relationship but the economic reality is not favourable, you would likely let the day slide, as we found out.
However, the other 20% say there’s nothing special about the day, and it is like every other day. The sampling also shows that the celebration doesn’t keep one’s relationship and if it does, maybe the relationship was built on material things rather than love.
A reality check
In 2023, a study on Valentine’s Day revealed that it is “all about gifts, less about love” and “the commercialisation of Valentine’s Day is more prevalent than ever.”
This is likely the situation in Nigeria where the majority of lovers are looking forward to gifts and shopping on Valentine’s Day—whether to show off on the internet, or to reconfirm their relationship status. Unfortunately, the present economic reality which has subsequently affected the sale of food and gift items in markets may cut off a lot of expectations this year.
Looking at the five-year trend of POS transactions, the data shows that transactions increased between 2020, 2021, and 2022 in February when compared to January of the same year, which is assumed to be driven by couples buying gifts, dining out, or shopping for loved ones.
However, in 2023 and 2024, transactions declined, suggesting the impact of high cost of living which started soaring from the preceding fiscal year to 2024. This change could mean that people are cutting back on Valentine’s day expenses due to financial constraints or a change in relationship status.
