Roadside Bars and Suya Spots Drive Nigeria’s Night Economy: Moniepoint

Roadside Bars and Suya Spots Drive Nigeria’s Night Economy: Moniepoint

By prince Benson Davies

Moniepoint Inc. has released a case study on “The Business of Community Nightlife in Nigeria”, shedding light on the country’s informal night economy. The research reveals that community nightlife, including roadside bars and suya spots, forms the bedrock of social life for millions of Nigerians, often outperforming high-end venues in terms of foot traffic and revenue.

The robust study was drawn from transaction data across more than 27,000 clubs, bars, and lounges sitting on Moniepoint’s payment rails alongside fieldwork with nightlife operators and workers across the country. Combining anonymised transaction data processed by Moniepoint with field interviews and observational research across multiple Nigerian cities, the study provides a rare, ground-level view of how money, labour, and social life intersect after dark.It is the latest in a series of sector-specific studies by the company aimed at bringing data visibility to Nigeria’s informal economy.

According to the report, in a stark contrast from wider informal economy trends, cash plays a diminishing role in nightlife payments. The report shows that bank transfers dominate, followed closely by card payments, with cash actively discouraged due to security concerns. Moniepoint’s data shows that transfers outpace card payments by nearly 2 million transactions during peak nighttime hours across its network.

One of the study’s most operationally significant findings concerns the timing of spending. Nightlife in Nigeria runs long but economically, the night is decided early. Transaction volumes begin climbing sharply from 8pm, peak before midnight, and then decline steadily even as venues remain full. By the time the night is at its longest, purchasing activity has already wound down. However, for bar operators, this has clear practical implications – the most critical hours for staffing, stocking, vendor payment and cash flow management are the earliest hours of the day between midnight and 6am.

The report further underscores the sector’s role in employment, noting that local bars typically expand their workforce by 30-50% on peak nights. Conservative estimates suggest at least 54,000 people are engaged in nightlife labor every night across Nigeria.

“Nigeria’s local bars and night-time operators are not peripheral to the economy, they are a critical part of its architecture. We see a substantial and sustained economic sector that employs hundreds of thousands of Nigerians every night and deserves the same attention we give to agriculture, healthcare, and retail. Our goal is to make sure every one of those businesses has the tools to grow. From giving credit to finance renovations and sound systems to providing same-day settlement that allows vendors to restock and with tools like Moniebook that power inventory management and reconciliation, Moniepoint is ensuring that this vital artery of the nation’s economy remains viable and empowering,” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-Founder and Group CEO, Moniepoint Inc.

Other key interesting findings include:

The most common transaction narrations from the data sourced – “food”, “pay”, “sent”, “pos”, “cash” – reflect the full breadth of nightlife spending: street food, club entry, lounge tabs, transport, and after