A Cultural Accident That Became an Economic Asset
Detty December was never a government blueprint or a carefully sequenced tourism policy. It was a market accident—an explosion of Nigerian soft power driven by Afrobeats dominance, diaspora homecomings, nightlife innovation and Lagos’ raw, chaotic magnetism. In economic terms, it was a positive externality Nigeria did not plan for but benefitted from immensely. Airline load factors peaked, hotels recorded near-full occupancy, informal employment surged and foreign exchange in
