‘Detty December’ is fading, and our own greed is pulling the plug

Let’s keep it a buck: Detty December didn’t become a global phenomenon because we had structure. It blew up in spite of the structure we didn’t have. It was pure cultural energy — Nigerian flavour, diaspora hype, nightlife innovation, and that unbeatable Lagos chaos-and-magic blend.

We accidentally stumbled into a billion-dollar seasonal economy.

And then… we overplayed our hand.

What we’re watching now is the slow death of an opportunity Nigeria wasn’t disciplined enough to protect. Operators are pricing like the goal is to retire in one December. Hotels and short lets are charging like they struck crude oil in their tap water. Concerts are demanding London prices for experiences that sometimes struggle to meet community-centre standards. Everywhere you turn, there’s a forex excuse slapped on cocktails, cabanas, and even customer service that doesn’t service anybody.

Meanwhile, quality is dropping, and chaos is rising.

Read also: 20 events that will make your Detty December in Lagos absolutely unforgettable

Bad combo.

And while we’re busy squeezing visitors, other African destinations are quietly securing the bag. Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, even the Benin Republic—they’re doing what we refuse to do: curating intentional experiences, stabilising pricing, tightening safety, and building integrated tourism ecosystems that make visitors feel respected, not exploited.

Here’s the truth seasoned consultants already know:

No market survives where value collapses and prices climb.

Visitors won’t keep paying luxury rates for mid-tier delivery. Diasporans won’t keep subsidising inefficiency out of nostalgia. Tourists will always choose destinations where their money feels seen, not ambushed.

Right now, Nigeria is pricing itself out of the same opportunity it created.

We still have:

no policy regulating seasonal pricing,

no incentive architecture for operators,

no coordinated national events calendar,

no December tourism blueprint linking transport, policing, hospitality, and experience design.

We enjoyed the first-mover advantage, but we squandered value advantage — and now we’re losing market advantage.

Detty December cannot scale on vibes, exploitative pricing, and survival-mode operators. If we don’t inject policy discipline, customer-experience discipline, and ecosystem thinking, the December dollars we’re banking on will keep flying—literally—to economies offering structured value at sensible spend.

Because markets behave just like people:

They stay where they’re valued — and bounce where they’re not.

If we don’t fix the fundamentals, Detty December will soon become a cautionary tale on how a generation let greed suffocate a billion-dollar seasonal economy before it ever matured.

And honestly, the signs aren’t subtle.

Our visitors are already voting with their passports — and the exit queue is getting longer.

Prince Femi Fadina is the National President of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN).

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