From Detty December To AFRIMA: How Lagos Is Redefining Destination Branding With Culture & Entertainment
From Afrobeats to festivals, sports to December revelry, Lagos is showing African cities how to turn cultural vibrancy into economic gold….
The sun hasn’t set on Lagos, and it never really does. Even as darkness falls over the Atlantic coastline, the city pulses with an energy that refuses to sleep. From the thumping bass lines of Afrobeats clubs in Victoria Island to the rhythmic drumbeats echoing through the streets during festival season, Lagos has transformed itself from merely being Nigeria’s commercial capital into something far more valuable: Africa’s cultural heartbeat and an emerging tourism powerhouse.
When Rema stood on the Eko Convention Centre stage in January 2026, accepting the coveted Artiste of the Year trophy at the 9th All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), beating heavyweights like Burna Boy, Davido, and Egypt’s Amr Diab, it wasn’t just a personal victory. It was a statement about Lagos itself, a city that has learned to harness its cultural assets as economic engines, positioning itself as the continent’s premier destination for entertainment tourism.
The AFRIMA Effect: Music as Infrastructure
Lagos’s selection to host AFRIMA 2025 wasn’t accidental. The announcement, made at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa in May, recognized what insiders have known for years: Lagos isn’t just hosting events; it’s creating an ecosystem where culture, commerce, and continental identity converge.
“For us in Lagos, hosting AFRIMA 2025 is not just another event; it is a big honor,” said Toke Benson-Awoyinka, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture. “People say we are the culture and entertainment capital of Africa, and we are ready to welcome the whole continent and the world to our city for this great event.”
The numbers tell the story. The 9th AFRIMA drew over 20,000 attendees to Ikeja City Mall for the AFRIMA Music Village alone. The week-long festivities included the Africa Music Business Summit, which brought together industry leaders, policymakers, diplomats, and global stakeholders to discuss not just performances, but ownership, investment, distribution, and copyright, the nuts and bolts of a sustainable cultural economy.
Mike Dada, AFRIMA’s president and executive producer, articulated the vision clearly: “African music is not only about the songs and vibes but about building the business aspect of the industry.” This philosophy mirrors Lagos’s own approach, turning cultural moments into lasting economic infrastructure.
The Lagos State Government has put its money where its cultural mouth is, investing N8.4 billion in creative industries in 2025. This isn’t charity; it’s strategic economic development that recognizes tourism potential in every drumbeat and dance step.
Beyond the Music: The Festival Formula
While AFRIMA captures headlines, Lagos has been quietly perfecting a formula that other Nigerian cities would do well to study: the strategic deployment of festivals and cultural events as tourism magnets.
The inaugural Eyo Festival represents a masterclass in this approach. The Eyo masquerades, with their distinctive white flowing robes and ornate staffs, are deeply rooted in Lagos’s indigenous culture. By formalizing and promoting the Eyo Festival as a signature cultural event, Lagos has taken what was once a sporadic traditional ceremony and transformed it into a predictable, marketable tourism product that draws both domestic and international visitors.
Then there’s “Detty December,” a phenomenon that has become synonymous with Lagos’s year-end festivities. What began organically as a social media hashtag describing the city’s December party scene has evolved into an unofficial tourism season. From beach parties in Lekki to concerts featuring Africa’s biggest stars, December in Lagos has become a pilgrimage for young Africans and diasporans seeking to reconnect with the continent’s most vibrant urban culture.
The genius of Detty December lies in its grassroots authenticity paired with government and private sector amplification. The state doesn’t manufacture the vibe; it creates the conditions for it to flourish, improved security, better infrastructure, promotional support, and a regulatory environment that enables event organizers to thrive.
The Sports Advantage: Diversifying the Tourism Portfolio
While entertainment dominates the narrative, Lagos hasn’t overlooked sports tourism. The city regularly hosts continental sporting events, from football tournaments to athletics championships, each bringing thousands of visitors and generating substantial economic activity.
Sports tourism offers something entertainment sometimes can’t: predictable, family-friendly content that appeals to different demographics. A major football match draws not just fans but families, creating demand for hotels, restaurants, and auxiliary services that benefit the broader economy.
The key lesson for other Nigerian cities is diversification. Lagos doesn’t rely solely on music or solely on sports; it creates a year-round calendar of events that ensures consistent tourist traffic and prevents seasonal slumps.
The Infrastructure Imperative
Lagos’s emergence as a tourism hub hasn’t happened despite its infrastructure challenges; it’s happened because the city has strategically invested in the infrastructure that matters most for cultural tourism.
World-class venues like the Eko Convention Centre provide the physical space for events like AFRIMA. The renovation of the National Theatre signals a commitment to cultural infrastructure. Improved security in entertainment districts gives visitors confidence. Better transportation links, including the expanding BRT system and ongoing rail projects, make moving around the megacity less daunting.
Angela Martins, Head of Culture Division at the African Union Commission, praised this approach during AFRIMA, “This partnership has demonstrated what is possible when government, continental institutions, and creative platforms collaborate. Our collaboration with AFRIMA has not only strengthened unity across Africa, but it has also elevated our culture, amplified African creativity, and showcased Lagos as a true cultural capital of the continent.”
Lessons for Other Nigerian Cities
So, what can Port Harcourt, Uyo, Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, and other major Nigerian cities learn from Lagos’s cultural tourism playbook?
Identify and Amplify Your Authentic Cultural Assets: Every region has unique cultural wealth. Port Harcourt has its riverine culture and could develop water-based festivals. Kano has centuries of Islamic scholarship and traditional dyeing industries that could anchor cultural tourism. The key is identifying what’s authentic and building systematically around it rather than trying to copy Lagos’s formula wholesale.
Create Predictable, Marketable Events: Tourism requires predictability. Annual festivals with fixed dates allow potential visitors to plan. Lagos has mastered this with Detty December, Eyo Festival, and now regular hosting of events like AFRIMA.
Invest in Event Infrastructure: This doesn’t necessarily mean billion-naira convention centers. It means creating spaces, renovated cultural centers, improved public squares, and designated entertainment zones where events can happen reliably and safely.
Build Public-Private Partnerships: Lagos’s success stems from the government creating enabling environments while private sector creativity provides the content. Commissioner Benson-Awoyinka emphasized this: “The government’s role is to create structures that enable creatives to earn, not to hand out money.”
Think Business, Not Just Buzz: The Africa Music Business Summit, held alongside AFRIMA festivities, focused on monetization, copyright, and sustainable industry structures. Other cities need similar platforms that treat culture as serious business requiring investment, protection, and professional management.
Leverage Diaspora Connections: Much of Lagos’s December boom comes from diasporans returning home. Other cities should identify and actively market to their diaspora communities, creating events that specifically appeal to returnees while showcasing local culture.
Create Year-Round Calendars: One festival doesn’t make a tourism hub. Lagos has events spread throughout the year. Other cities need to develop quarterly or monthly cultural programming that gives visitors multiple reasons to come and reasons to return.
The Technology Factor
At the 9th AFRIMA Business Summit, Congolese music star Innos’B highlighted technology’s transformative role: “I was part of a project where the entire music video was done with AI. Nobody went to shoot the video, yet the connection with the audience was massive.”
This technological dimension offers opportunities for Nigerian cities without Lagos’s physical advantages. Virtual events, streaming platforms, and digital content creation can extend reach beyond physical visitors. A city could host a hybrid festival that attracts thousands physically while reaching millions digitally, creating both immediate revenue and long-term brand building.
The Economic Reality Check
Mark Smithson from the British Deputy High Commission offered sobering advice at the AFRIMA Summit: “African problems need to be solved by African solutions, with the support of the international community.” He noted that Africa has approximately 1.1 trillion dollars in institutional capital pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance funds that could support cultural infrastructure.
The message for other Nigerian cities is clear: don’t wait for federal government largesse or international donors. Mobilize local capital, engage your business communities, and demonstrate that cultural tourism generates returns on investment.
The Preservation-Progress Balance
As cities pursue tourism development, they face a delicate challenge: how to modernize and market culture without commodifying it into meaninglessness. The inaugural Eyo Festival represents this balance, taking a traditional ceremony and making it accessible to tourists while maintaining its spiritual and cultural significance.
Other cities must navigate similar terrain. Cultural tourism works best when it feels authentic, not staged for cameras. This requires involving traditional custodians in planning, ensuring local communities benefit economically, and resisting the temptation to strip culture of meaning in pursuit of Instagram moments.
Beyond Nigeria: Continental Competition
Lagos isn’t competing only with Nigerian cities. Accra has its “Year of Return” initiative and burgeoning festival scene. Nairobi positions itself as East Africa’s cultural gateway. Cape Town markets itself to international tourists with sophisticated campaigns. Dakar leverages its francophone connections and growing music scene.
The African tourism pie is growing, but so is competition. Nigerian cities entering this space need to move with urgency while maintaining strategic patience in creating basic infrastructure and signature events, patience in building reputations and refining offerings over multiple seasons.
The Road Ahead
As December approaches, Lagos is preparing to welcome the continent once again. The city’s trajectory from rough-edged megacity to aspirational cultural destination offers a roadmap that other Nigerian cities can adapt to their contexts.
The formula isn’t complex: identify unique cultural assets, invest in infrastructure that enables their expression, create predictable marquee events, build partnerships between government and private sector, market aggressively to diaspora and continental audiences, and treat culture as serious economic business rather than mere heritage.
As Dr. Bisi Onasanya, AFRIMA Patron, declared at the recent Patron’s Dinner: “Africa and the rest of the world will see an amazing show in Lagos because we are confident of organising a successful event.”
That confidence backed by investment, infrastructure, and institutional support is precisely what transforms cities from places people live into destinations people choose to visit. Lagos has cracked the code. The question now is which Nigerian city will be next to turn its cultural wealth into tourism gold, contributing to a national tourism economy that could rival oil in generating foreign exchange and employment.
The drumbeats are sounding from Lagos, echoing across the continent. Other Nigerian cities would be wise to find their own rhythm and join the performance. The stage is set; the audience is waiting.