Valentine's Day: 3 Ways Scarcity of Naira Notes Will Affect the Season of Love Celebration in Nigeria
Once again, it is that time of the year Nigerians join the global community to mark St Valentine's Day.
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This day is set aside in many countries for the celebration of love. On February 14, many lovers, family members, and friends do something special for one another.
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Lovers look up to this day with joy because it usually involves a lot of fun and sometimes, eating and drinking.
However one chooses to mark Valentine's Day, it most likely will involve money and many times, cash. Money is used to buy gifts and other things for lovers.
This is where the Central Bank of Nigeria's cashless policy comes into play. This is because this year's Valentine's Day is coming at a time when Nigerians are finding it hard to have access to cash.
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Cases of inability to access cash for simple daily needs have been widely reported across Nigeria.
What are the implications of the scarcity of Naira notes on the celebration of the 2023 Valentine's Day? Legit.ng lists three possible effects.
1. Lesser cash to spend on loved ones on Valentine's Day
The CBN cashless policy now means that people have less cash at hand. The lesser cash available, the lesser the spending.
This could be the case because some people are accustomed to carrying cash around such that using cashless technology is a problem.
Many Nigerians who do not have access to cash may also find it hard to buy Valentine's gifts for loved ones.
2. Lesser patronage for fun spots
During this Valentine, fun spots that used to be full of lovers may not witness such turnouts.
The CBN cashless policy has made some people cash-strapped such that they do not have any cash at home as media reports even show some people taking beds to banks in a bid to get cash.
In the face of this, finding Naira notes to use for things as small as short-distance intra-city trips to fun spots could become a burden for lovers. This is especially if such lovers do not use cashless banking.
This could therefore lead to lesser patronage for eateries, parks, and hotels.
3. Lesser cash gifts, money bouquets
The CBN cashless policy will likely make it difficult to give cash gifts to loved ones during this year's Valentine's day.
People who like dishing out Naira notes in brown envelopes and the money cake/bouquet gangs may likely be unable to do so because of the widely reported cash crunch.
This will therefore lead to fewer cash gifts, but such people could utilize cashless technology for monetary gifts.
The bottom line on CBN's cashless policy and 2023 Valentine's day
The lack of cash may, however, not have too much impact on the love season. This is because there are other payment methods lovers could utilize to pay for food at restaurants or pay for things in gift shops.
For transportation to and fro fun spots, lovers could make use of ride-hailing companies who are known to be cashless in terms of payment.
However, people's movement could be limited as compared to previous years because some lovers are accustomed to cash which they may not have at the time.
Lovers who met online marry each other
In a related story, Legit.ng reported about two lovers who met on Whatsapp.
The lady named Ugo was serving as a corps member in Borno state but relocated to Enugu to meet her man.
They would later get married in 2022 after dating for two years.
Source: Legit.ng
