Nigeria’s celebratory ‘detty December’ turns sombre amid economic woes

Amid high inflation and soaring costs, the monthlong annual entertainment extravaganza is taking a toll on many.

Lagos, Nigeria – Fade Bey’s Decembers are usually packed with activities. In the company of friends and family, she hops from one bar, club and concert to the next, braving Lagos’s notoriously gridlocked traffic to sample cuisines at different restaurants around the city.

But this year, the holidays are bare-bones. Dressed in a T-shirt, the public relations consultant has ceded stylish clothes for more affordable hobbies, she said, as she moves between her couch and bed reading books and catching up on movies she missed during the year.

“I love eating out and buying gifts for the people that I love but that has changed this year because of the economy,” Bey, who is in her late 20s, told Al Jazeera. “I can’t buy for one person and leave other people standing, and I have also refused to receive gifts from people because I don’t want to feel indebted.”

Bey is not the only one abstaining from this year’s “detty December” – a monthlong end-of-year extravaganza popular in Nigeria and across West Africa filled with concerts, carnivals, beach activities, bar and restaurant visits, among others. The phenomenon is popular with the region’s locals as well as the vast diaspora community returning for the holidays and is a chance for people to socialise, reconnect and relax after a busy year.

But recently, the economic downturn in Africa’s most populous country is dampening the beloved tradition. This year, restaurants and bars are not as full as before due to eroding spending power brought on by President Bola Tinubu’s economic measures, experts say.