By Dipo Olowookere

Preparations are underway for the inaugural Miss Ayobo-Ipaja Beauty Pageant, which the chairman of the Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos, Mr Agbaje Lukmon Abiodun, says aligns with his administration’s open-door policy and dedication to community engagement.

Addressing the media on the forthcoming event, the council chief noted that the beauty contest would also be used to showcase the creative side of Ayobo-Ipaja.

The pageant, themed Cleaner Ayobo-Ipaja, Business Post gathered, seeks to raise awareness against indiscriminate refuse dumping while promoting environmental cleanliness.

It was further learned that, beyond its advocacy, the event provides a platform to discover and nurture young talents, producing knowledgeable and confident representatives capable of competing on a global stage.

Mr Agbaje also emphasised that the initiative underscores the LCDA’s commitment to community development, environmental awareness, and youth empowerment, urging residents, community leaders, and others to participate actively in this inaugural event.

“The chairman is committed to ensuring that the LCDA remains a hub for youth development and community initiatives,” a statement issued by Mr Agbaje’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Amuwa Mayowa, stated.

One of the partners of the proposed contest, Queen Bodaf and Haasty Global, stressed that the pageant transcends physical beauty, as it emphasises intelligence, creativity, and social responsibility.

“We are looking for a young woman who embodies the values of Ayobo-Ipaja and can represent the community with pride,” a representative of the organisation said.

Many Africans grow up learning to manage money, time, expectations,  and even dreams. Bills come first and responsibilities take over, while enjoyment is often postponed indefinitely.. Over time, this habit shapes more than routines; it quietly shapes how we experience life.

Even small pleasures, like relaxing after work, follow the same rule. Ask someone how they unwind, and the answer is almost always: “I just want to watch a good movie.” But the films they really want like Hollywood blockbusters, thrillers, often seem out of reach. They assume these stories are for those who can afford premium subscriptions or foreign platforms.

So, they settle, they scroll past channels they think won’t have what they want. They stick to what feels familiar. And without realising it, they limit themselves.

What many don’t know is that some of these movies are already available on GOtv, quietly waiting to be discovered. Here are a few shows currently airing:

Fast & Furious

Fast & Furious is more than just cars and explosions, though there’s plenty of both. At the centre is Dominic Toretto, a man whose world revolves around family, loyalty, and living fast. He and his crew aren’t just street racers; they’re a tight-knit group who take risks, break rules, and push limits at every turn. Every chase and every stunt isn’t just about adrenaline, it’s about trust, about knowing the people beside you will always have your back. And that’s why, even with all the chaos, you keep coming back: for the action, sure, but also for the bonds that hold them together.

Next Three Days

When Lara is suddenly jailed for a murder she swears she didn’t commit, her world collapses, and her devoted husband, John, faces a choice no one should have to make. Determined to free the woman he loves, John hatches a daring, high-stakes plan to challenge the law itself. Tension builds with every calculated move, each moment more suspenseful than the last, as love, desperation, and courage collide in a race against time. Will he succeed, or will the price of loyalty be too high?

Who Am I

Benjamin, a brilliant but anonymous hacker, starts out for fun,  small-scale digital tricks and clever intrusions. But as his exploits grow bolder, he draws the attention of powerful authorities and dangerous criminal forces. Caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Benjamin must outsmart those hunting him while navigating a world where trust is rare, and identities are never what they seem.

Studio Universal doesn’t just offer movies; it offers experiences that many thought were out of reach. Unwinding after work doesn’t have to mean settling for the ordinary. From Hollywood blockbusters to family-friendly films and adrenaline-fueled adventures, these stories are all available on Studio Universal, Channel 54 on GOtv.

Subscribers can also enjoy more value with the We Got You offer, available until 28th February 2026. Pay for your current package and automatically get upgraded to the next one at no extra cost,  giving access to more channels, more shows, and more moments like these.

To subscribe, upgrade, or reconnect, download the MyGOtv App or dial *288#. You can also stream anytime with the GOtv Stream App.

Spotify’s latest Valentine data signals that Nigerian listening is becoming more emotionally expansive, not more predictable. Across the Jan 1 to Feb 4 comparison window, Nigeria saw strong growth in mood-led playlist creation from 2024 to 2025, with rizz up +58%, simp up +66%, and yearn up +305%. From 2025 to 2026, we could see rizz up +82% and yearn up +170%. Together, these shifts point to a culture that is naming attraction, vulnerability, and longing in real time.

A New Language for Modern Love

On Valentine’s Day, Nigerian listeners moved between local and global love soundtracks, with Burna Boy, John Legend, and Billie Eilish appearing in the same emotional universe. What stands out is not one dominant mood but the growth of multiple moods at once. Using rizz and simp as love-coded signals, and yearn as a heartbreak-coded signal, Spotify data shows both sides rising sharply. Love-coded playlist, rizz behaviour grew by +58%  to +82% from 2024 to 2026, while heartbreak-coded behaviour yearn grew by +305% and then +170% over those same periods.

This is emotional literacy in action, with listeners using playlists to process what they feel without having to flatten it into one story.

Nigerian Gen Z is driving this change. Data points to a generation building a working vocabulary for modern relationships, one that allows confidence, tenderness, and uncertainty to exist side by side.

The Duality Generation

Among 18 to 24-year-olds on Valentine’s Day, nearly 60% of listeners skewed heartbreak, while almost 40% leaned into love. They are not choosing one emotion over another. They are holding both at once and building listening habits that reflect that complexity.

The pattern is visible across gender, too. Men accounted for over 65% in heartbreak and 61% in love song streaming, while women represented just over a third in both cases, showing that both groups are actively engaging the full emotional spectrum on the day.

Geographically, heartbreak listening is concentrated in urban centres, with Lagos leading, followed by Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Benin. The map is culturally telling. Young Nigerians in major cities are using music as a live emotional archive of romance, ambiguity, and recovery.

Sharing the Feeling

Nigerians are not processing these emotions in isolation. Valentine’s Day 2025 was the “Blendiest” day in the preceding year, signalling peak shared listening behaviour through Spotify Blend. Partners, friends, and crushes used collaborative playlists to merge Afrobeats, street-pop, and R&B into shared mood spaces.

Top Blend tracks on the day included  Fido’s Awolowo, Smur Lee’s, Shallipopi, ODUMODUBLVCK’s JUJU (with Smur Lee & Shallipopi),  BNXN, Rema’s “Fi Kan We Kan,” and Rema’s “OZEBA.” In direct song shares, listeners chose emotionally direct records such as Future’s “WORST DAY,” Drake’s “GIVE ME A HUG, Asake’s “WHY LOVE”,  Rema’s “Baby (Is it a Crime)”, and Drake’s “NOKIA”. The signal is clear: sharing is not just social behaviour, it is emotional communication.

Beyond Romance: Community, Friendships, and Faith

Valentine’s listening also shows Nigerians broadening the meaning of connection. Globally, Galentine playlist creation rose by over +70% year on year, with +20% growth already recorded this year. In Nigeria, this aligns with how friendship and peer support are increasingly central to how young listeners mark the day.

The podcast picture adds another cultural layer. Faith-based voices remained highly visible on 14 February, alongside relationship-centred conversations, reflecting a listening culture where romance, spirituality, and community wisdom coexist rather than compete.

Spotify also recorded a +20% increase in Valentine’s Day playlist creation globally in the latest comparable seasonal window, reinforcing that this period remains one of the strongest emotional moments in the listening calendar.

“Valentine’s Day in Nigeria is no longer a single-note romance moment. We are seeing listeners embrace love and heartbreak as equally valid emotional realities, and use music to move through both with honesty. What stands out is the confidence to name complex feelings and the willingness to share them with others,” says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa.

This year’s Valentine’s data presents a portrait of a generation redefining connection: emotionally fluent, culturally hybrid, community-oriented, and unafraid of contradiction.