The Federal Government will begin early preparations for the 2026 edition of Nigeria’s year-end celebrations, popularly known as Detty December, starting in March, Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa has announced.

Musawa disclosed this on Saturday while reviewing the 2025 festive season during an interview on MIC ON, a podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye.

She said that although the last Detty December delivered strong economic and tourism gains, it also exposed structural gaps that must be addressed to sustain Nigeria’s growing appeal as a global holiday destination.

According to the minister, the overall impact of the season was positive, especially in terms of tourist inflow and spending, but challenges such as inadequate accommodation, inflated pricing by service providers and traffic congestion threatened to undermine the experience.

“Presently, we are doing an interrogation of the 2025 Detty December. I would say more positives than the negatives. For the negatives, the lack of accommodation and overpricing of the vendors, which I think is the major issue on the table that we are looking at.

“We are going to start the push for this year’s Detty December in March. The paper that is going to go out to the Federal Executive Council, to bring in all the necessary interdependencies that will help in delivering a fantastic festive season in Lagos, is something that is going to start in March,” she said.

Detty December refers to the flurry of concerts, festivals, parties and cultural events that dominate Nigeria’s social calendar towards the end of the year, with Lagos serving as the main hub for both local and foreign visitors.

Musawa said Lagos has now become synonymous with December tourism globally, but stressed the need to deliberately expand festivities to other parts of the country.

She stated, “Obviously, when you talk about December now anywhere in the world, Lagos is really the choice destination for anyone to come. 

“We are, however, hoping to expand this by creating more activities and content across the country. For instance, during December, you have the Calabar Festival, as well as several activities in Enugu, Plateau, and other parts of the South East.

“These are some of the areas we hope that in the coming December, we will have more content to attract people to experience other parts of Nigeria.”

She explained that the Federal Government intends to provide stronger support to Lagos and the creative sector through targeted funding and infrastructure development, including an endowment fund aimed at boosting creative output.

“But we as a Federal Government have to support Lagos more in terms of you know the funding the the finances that come in for even just the creatives in the in the in the in the industry to give them more support.

“The endowment fund that we’re hoping to present will allow them to do that. And of course, the infrastructure is really not there. Bring in more hotels, more five-star hotels and more upper-class hotels,” she added.

Musawa also expressed optimism that ongoing airport upgrades in Lagos would improve the arrival experience for visitors by the end of the year.

She added that while efforts are being made by the Ministry of Works and the Lagos State Government to ease traffic through new roads and flyovers, unchecked pricing could still damage Nigeria’s competitiveness.

“The government has to come in to bring some sanity in terms of the pricing so that people can come into Nigeria, and we do not lose the effect of Nigeria being the place to come in December,” the minister stated.