Bisola David
It’s valentine’s and as expected, social media is being flooded with gift ideas, packages for loved ones, couple goals and content taking digs at singles, but there’s one thing poking all Nigerians; singles and hooked, and that’s cash crunch.
Whether it’s your boo or beau you want to flex or its self-love you’re rooting for this Valentine, you can’t but think twice about how you spend because of the current naira crisis experienced nationwide.
While many spend days queuing under the scorching sun at banks and ATM spots, some spend the night sleeping at ATM shades, some are lamenting the effect of the cash crunch on their Valentine’s plans.
However, some women believe that naira scarcity is an opportunity for Nigerian men to give excuses and not buy them gifts as expected.
Punch Metro went into the streets of Abuja to hear from some men if they would hit or even exceed their valentine’s budgets and we asked the ladies if they’d excuse their man for not ‘doing it big’ or ‘doing it at all’ due to the naira crisis.
Here is what some Nigerians have to say:
Anderson Benedict said, “The issue on the ground has tampered with my plans, to be honest, but that doesn’t stop me from making my woman smile. I might just have to revisit my budget.”
Vikky Charles, on her part, said it was a ‘No no’. She said, “that’s just an excuse cause if it’s important, he must’ve been Looplanning before now, so she doesn’t expect any less from her boyfriend.”
Paul Solomon also admitted that the cash crunch will affect his plans for Val but is thankful that he has an understanding babe.
He said, “Yes the naira crisis will affect my spending, but thankfully my babe is very understanding so I believe she would understand if I do very little.”
However, Princess Danjuma said a valentine with no gift from her man could lead to a serious fight between them.
“I won’t o, in fact, that could lead to a serious fight because why will he not plan ahead? I love to celebrate valentine and he knows it,” she said.
Chibuzor Obi told our correspondent that “Things are hard, everyone knows what’s happening in the country so I expect my babe to understand. I’ll make sure I buy her something though, no matter how little.”
However, a lady named Tomi Michael said, “Hmmm, I’ll understand but I still wouldn’t be happy ’cause I feel it’s every lady’s dream to be celebrated, especially on days like this.”
Meanwhile, an Abuja man, Ahmed Munir said he is thankful he started planning way earlier and as such, his plans won’t be affected much by the scarcity.
He said, Thankfully, I started planning way earlier, so I wouldn’t say the naira crisis has affected me much cause I was still able to buy all I planned.
According to Elizabeth Marcus, everyone has been affected by the financial crisis and she hasn’t been able to plan anything for her lover.
“Hmmm. I’ll understand if he doesn’t do anything serious because this year hasn’t been funny o. I also haven’t been able to plan anything serious for my man, “so this wahala, e reach everybody”, plus I’m not much of a fan of valentine,” she said.
