One thing that could help is spreading out the supply, though this presents a serious security challenge. Many diasporans of eastern origin would prefer to spend December closer to home, but that would involve significant security costs. As a result, most would rather stay in Lagos and have their families fly (or bus) in to join them for the holidays.
If insecurity and bad roads were not such major obstacles, supply would naturally spread to cities like Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Uyo.
Yes been seeing ticket costs alone to fly to the east and they were eye watering. A round trip for N1m when you have already spent maybe $3,000+ to get to Nigeria is truly crazy
I was a Detty December skeptic, so much so that when I got a chance to take time off to visit Naija this year, after being away for over a decade, I sacrificed Thanksgiving holiday to avoid that busy December visit.
But mahn, Lagos close to December was fun and businesses are making a killing. I’d so much hate for them to lose that to disorganized greed. One example, we rented a car, it was advertised as a 2023 model. What we got was a battered 2016 interior inside a shiny 2023 body? Who does that?? AC was shitty, the air filter did zero against Lagos fumes. Got them to replace twice with little improvement. The thing cost the same as renting from Avis. Kmt!
It came with a driver sha who claimed he’s paid what I calculated as close to 15% of our cost. So much of that profit isn’t going to labor, which remains very cheap in Nigeria. I hope they don’t ruin a good thing.
Amazing. I think this may be the new ridiculous thing of "upgrading" cars (search for Bebex Global Company on instagram). For the life of me, I have no idea how that stuff is legal but its all done very openly. So....
The stampede mentality hits again. In the end, nothing in our system can be changed sustainably until we reframe / address this mindset, or now seemingly entrenched culture, at the fundamental level.
I really enjoyed reading this. Only last week, I had a Lagos hotel cancel a reservation last-minute, with the receptionist hinting they had done so to secure a group booking from partygoers who offered to pay more. He seemed confused when I pointed out that such behaviour would result in their losing me as a customer forever.
As you say, there is something deeper at work in Nigeria. “Any new opportunity, however promising, quickly collapses into a frenzy that ensures its own demise.”
Yeah, the part about cancelling bookings is the worst for me. Booking early to save money is standard practice elsewhere and is supposed to be a win win for everyone - the hotel gets zero interest funds and the customer gets peace of mind and some savings. If Nigeria is now turning this on its head, then that is really terrible and not something anyone should accept as normal behaviour.
When the display prices of main cabin flights were showing higher than business/first on some airlines, that's when I knew that something had broken. Now it's Jentle January or Jejune June until further notice.
This article is such a brilliant connection of seemingly unrelated ideas (from the embargo to oil sales, to the Yorùbá aphorism, etc) to drive home a relatable idea. I REALLY enjoyed reading this — both as a reader and just as a regular thinking person.
The whole Detty December will only get better if it can spread to other cities and businesses optimise around it rather than what happens now where they want to "cashout"....A rather sad underdevelopment mentality...
I don't think it's a problem that there's a supply side rush. It seems like it's the free market at work, and ultimately we would get to an equilibrum.
Of course, there would be people who do unsavoury things like you would see in any unregulated market. But I don't think that would be enough to burst the entire bubble.
One thing that could help is spreading out the supply, though this presents a serious security challenge. Many diasporans of eastern origin would prefer to spend December closer to home, but that would involve significant security costs. As a result, most would rather stay in Lagos and have their families fly (or bus) in to join them for the holidays.
If insecurity and bad roads were not such major obstacles, supply would naturally spread to cities like Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Uyo.
Yes been seeing ticket costs alone to fly to the east and they were eye watering. A round trip for N1m when you have already spent maybe $3,000+ to get to Nigeria is truly crazy
Yes. Quite expensive to fly in, and if you did, you'd have to spend extra on security. Getting kidnapped is a real risk in many parts of the SE.
I was a Detty December skeptic, so much so that when I got a chance to take time off to visit Naija this year, after being away for over a decade, I sacrificed Thanksgiving holiday to avoid that busy December visit.
But mahn, Lagos close to December was fun and businesses are making a killing. I’d so much hate for them to lose that to disorganized greed. One example, we rented a car, it was advertised as a 2023 model. What we got was a battered 2016 interior inside a shiny 2023 body? Who does that?? AC was shitty, the air filter did zero against Lagos fumes. Got them to replace twice with little improvement. The thing cost the same as renting from Avis. Kmt!
It came with a driver sha who claimed he’s paid what I calculated as close to 15% of our cost. So much of that profit isn’t going to labor, which remains very cheap in Nigeria. I hope they don’t ruin a good thing.
Amazing. I think this may be the new ridiculous thing of "upgrading" cars (search for Bebex Global Company on instagram). For the life of me, I have no idea how that stuff is legal but its all done very openly. So....
That upgrading should be banned.
Having said that , we are going to kill the Derry December ourselves and it's annoying to me .
The Airbnb stuff was irritating to say the least , happened to my inlaws and we had to start scrambling to get hotels.
Yes that’s the word they used! “Upgraded” I blame myself for not researching the meaning before paying. I’ll go check Bebex.
The stampede mentality hits again. In the end, nothing in our system can be changed sustainably until we reframe / address this mindset, or now seemingly entrenched culture, at the fundamental level.
I really enjoyed reading this. Only last week, I had a Lagos hotel cancel a reservation last-minute, with the receptionist hinting they had done so to secure a group booking from partygoers who offered to pay more. He seemed confused when I pointed out that such behaviour would result in their losing me as a customer forever.
As you say, there is something deeper at work in Nigeria. “Any new opportunity, however promising, quickly collapses into a frenzy that ensures its own demise.”
Yeah, the part about cancelling bookings is the worst for me. Booking early to save money is standard practice elsewhere and is supposed to be a win win for everyone - the hotel gets zero interest funds and the customer gets peace of mind and some savings. If Nigeria is now turning this on its head, then that is really terrible and not something anyone should accept as normal behaviour.
When the display prices of main cabin flights were showing higher than business/first on some airlines, that's when I knew that something had broken. Now it's Jentle January or Jejune June until further notice.
I’m all for Jejune June 😂😂
This article is such a brilliant connection of seemingly unrelated ideas (from the embargo to oil sales, to the Yorùbá aphorism, etc) to drive home a relatable idea. I REALLY enjoyed reading this — both as a reader and just as a regular thinking person.
Thanks for reading!
The whole Detty December will only get better if it can spread to other cities and businesses optimise around it rather than what happens now where they want to "cashout"....A rather sad underdevelopment mentality...
I don't think it's a problem that there's a supply side rush. It seems like it's the free market at work, and ultimately we would get to an equilibrum.
Of course, there would be people who do unsavoury things like you would see in any unregulated market. But I don't think that would be enough to burst the entire bubble.