Everyone is excited about Detty December, even the Nigerian government. So much so that a presidential task force on Detty December is set to be established, with representatives from critical ministries like aviation, interior, arts and culture, and others. The task force was announced by Hannatu Musa Musawa, the minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, after an executive council meeting with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.
For the uninitiated, Detty December is the colloquial term for the bustling month of activities in the final month of the year, across Nigeria, particularly in Lagos. The term also applies in Ghana and fringes across West Africa. Detty December takes the baton from the West African art season and ratchets things up several notches, loaded with festivals, live shows, curated parties, and everything in between as long as it’s fun.
Currently, there’s sparse information about what the Detty December task force is in place for, only that it’s meant to “ensure that we provide the international community with the destination” for the festivities and to support Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial and nightlife capital, which will be the epicenter of the period. In her address, Musawa said the task force will help “maximize the potential of Detty December,” without elaborating on how.
Decembers, particularly the mid to latter parts, have always taken on a celebratory atmosphere in Nigeria, but the past decade has adjusted the significance of the period into one for raucous jolly. The associated term, largely popularized by Nigerian singer Mr Eazi circa 2016, plays into youth culture and lifestyle in a way that has become attractive to Nigerians in the diaspora and non-Nigerians.
After eight years — minus Covid-riddled 2020 — of prominence, why is the Nigerian government now looking to “maximize the potential of Detty December”? For many Nigerians like me, the first answer is that it’s an exploitative endeavor. This mirrors the common trend of the government targeting anything that is flourishing in the country. Given that Tinubu’s government is focused on revenue generation, it’s understandable to see the task force as potentially exploitative.
There are important, predictive signs. The first is proximity: Why is a task force being set up so close to the period of the festivities it’s meant to support? Perhaps this is a knee-jerk measure, or maybe it’s not, but it does reek of a certain type of incompetence many Nigerians are familiar with – and where there’s government incompetence, there’s desperation lurking around the corner. For a phenomenon that’s been woven in the fabric of Nigerian and, I daresay, African culture for about a decade now, government involvement is way, way too late.
Detty December has existed largely unregulated. Many event organizers need permits and have to deal with bureaucratic red tape; however, government involvement is relatively minimal. A task force will most likely change that, which isn’t always a good thing in Nigeria.
There are genuine things that need to be addressed in relation to Detty December: The already difficult traffic situation in Lagos becomes arduous, artificial inflation is ridiculous to the point of pricing out locals, police can be specially cruel to nightlifers, roads are insecure for those that want to explore beyond Lagos, Abuja and other urban centers, many local businesses lose money due to chargebacks, and many more. These are concerns that deserve attention several months before Detty December kicks in.
As a timely example, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) introduced a new $11.50 levy on all international air tickets, effective on December 1, 2025. This levy, known as the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) levy, adds to the $20 security charge and the 7.5 value-added tax passengers have to pay, in addition to already expensive flight ticket plans. Perhaps, if the Detty December task force had been in effect a few months ago, it would have advised against a levy that makes traveling to Nigeria more expensive, especially at a time when it wants to “ensure that we provide the international community with the destination.”
It would be foolhardy to believe that APIS coming into effect on December 1 isn’t a well-thought-out plan to coincide with the influx of people traveling into Nigeria. To observe the Nigerian government is to be cynical, which is why it feels apt to expect more taxes — overt or covert — related to Detty December. After all, this is a government that has put in place tax laws meant to pull everyone into the tax net, which is a solid principle, but a severe lack of trust in government spending means enthusiasm is low.
The social contract between many Nigerians and their government isn’t particularly functional. We’ve pretty much conceded that the government isn’t acting in favor of our own interests, which means we’re self-dependent, and that includes collectively making Detty December into a cultural phenomenon, without much institutional support. After a decade of self-determination, the government’s sudden interest is not a cause for excitement, but a final, sobering realization that nothing is too sacred to escape the tax net.