Over time, Valentine’s day celebrations have taken up an amatory-monetary transactional format chiefly between ladies and their men. In the US, total spending in the valentine economy is estimated to hit $23.9 billion, its second-highest level since 2007. Besides, each valentine celebrant is expected to spend an average of $175.4 to procure gifts and services for their love mates, the National Retail Federation (NRF) polls reported. In Nigeria, each Valentine celebrant is expected to spend N11,400, a 2021 Picodi poll revealed.
Debates on Valentine’s day rituals range from its platonic love origins to its mercantile love forms today. And at the centre of its Cupid’s arc is the core debate about which of the sexes gifts more or gains more during the Valentine season.
Unfortunately, Valentine celebrations in Nigeria, especially in cities such as Abuja and Lagos, took a new turn this week. The prevailing fuel scarcity and the ascendance of petrol to the echelon of luxury goods opened up a new discussion – the propriety of a full gallon of motor fuel in requiting love this Valentine season.
While men and women try to outdo one another in payments for Valentine’s day gifts or dinners, they unwittingly open up another platform for vigorous interbank intercourse, through their cash and card purchases. A freehand sketch of the NIBSS Point of Sale (POS) data estimates that over N23 billion Naira changed hands on POS this year’s Valentine’s day.
Queuing for a Full Tank: Different sexes, Different supermarkets
Nigerian men are beginning to demand functional gifts on Valentine’s day. Departing from acceptance of gifts like boxer shorts, perfumes, and cards, they now prefer gifts like a new set of car tyres, and in the tumultuous week of Valentine, they sought gifts of gallons of fuel to relieve them from the long, and many times, hopeless queues for fuel at the filling station.