Nigeria’s Detty December surge is exposing the pressure points across hospitality, food supply, and staffing, and according to the Founder of Lion Hospitality Partner and Group CEO of Wakanow, Bayo Adedeji, the experience offers critical lessons for planning ahead of the 2026 festive season.
He spoke during the Naija7Wonders Zoom Conference Meeting 3.0 hosted by Ambassador Ikechi Uko, organisers of the Akwaaba African Travel Market, where tourism and hospitality stakeholders assessed how the December travel and entertainment boom is reshaping business realities in Nigeria.
Addressing concerns about price increases during the festive rush, he explained that operators are often forced into difficult decisions when demand rapidly outpaces available supply.
“As a businessman, I will be honest with you. If demand exceeds supply, we would have to raise prices. That is the reality,” he said. “You cannot judge a business only by what happens in December without understanding the losses we absorb during the rest of the year when facilities are half empty.”
To illustrate how intense the pressure became, he shared an example from his food operations across his hospitality network, which includes Wave Beach, Athena Beach, Kyma Beach, Unda Lounge, Lion Wonder Arena in Alausa, Egbeda and Ikorodu, as well as Doo & Shima Beach House.
“My suya man used to do about 30 rams a week. In December, we were killing about 200 rams every week,” he revealed. “It got to a point where the suppliers came to check on us because of the volume. They thought maybe we were doing some kind of sacrifice. That was how intense the demand was.”
According to him, the situation forced operators to raise prices not just to increase margins but to slow down demand and prevent constant shortages.
“We had to raise prices to draw back the demand or we would keep running out completely. The laws of demand and supply are real,” he said.
He noted that while December appears extremely profitable from the outside, the reality for many hospitality businesses becomes evident in January, when demand drops by nearly half and operators struggle to sustain wage bills.
“In January, paying salaries was tough. We paid because we are a responsible business, but we had to rely on what we made in December to survive January. Eventually, we had to let some people go because the demand simply disappeared,” he admitted.
Discussions at the forum focused on how Nigeria can avoid repeating the same capacity problems by increasing supply across aviation, hospitality, food logistics, and staffing ahead of 2026.
He urged investors and policymakers to see the bigger picture and channel resources into expanding infrastructure and operational capacity before the next festive surge.
“Everybody listening should look for ways to invest so there is more supply. Without more supply, everyone will have to raise prices,” he concluded.
Stakeholders at the meeting agreed that Detty December has evolved into a major tourism driver for Nigeria, but managing its growth will require early planning, stronger supply chains, and increased investment long before December arrives.
