Just hang on til Detty December

"E don cast

Last, last Na everybody go chop breakfast"

These are the words that could be heard as youth gathered from all over the world in the clubs and streets of Lagos as they participated in Detty December. From the first week of December to the first week of January, the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, never sleep.

It's honestly impossible to ask Nigerian youth about their end-of-year holiday plans without them mentioning Detty December. It has easily become one of the most anticipated times of the year in Nigerian and African pop culture.

While the exact origins of Detty December are unknown, the term was introduced in 2019. Detty December a time when Nigerians and other people from the Black diaspora gather together in Nigeria to party, "chop life" and enjoy a host of activities, all-day street festivals and all-night concerts to celebrate the end of the year. While some IJGB's— aka I Just Got Backs, which refers to Nigerians in the diaspora who have just returned home— chose to return to their familial/ancestral villages in the states around Nigeria, Detty December's impact is mainly felt in Lagos.

The new influx of people is evident as Lagos becomes crowded with IJGB's. It doesn't matter whether you are going to a restaurant or a beach party, there will be massive crowds and traffic during December. Oluwatoyosi Adegunle, a representative for the Lagos hospitality brand Xenia Lifestyle, says that December has become the busiest month for reservations; they noticed a 55% increase in extended-stay bookings.

Some people believe Detty December is the result of the 2019 Lagos December Celebrations. These collective events held the record-highest number of concerts and state-promoted festivities in Nigeria at the time. Others believe its origin dates further back to the inauguration of the Calabar Carnival in 2004.

Donald Duke, the former governor of Cross River, Nigeria, started the Calabar Carnival because he believed that having a month-long festival in December would boost tourism and the local economy in the southeastern state. The Calabar festival is hosted in the capital city of Cross River State, Calabar. It is a massive display of culture that includes musical performances, food competitions, a solidarity march, street parties, fashion shows, a prestigious essay writing competition, art shows, traditional dances and masque events. The carnival has been dubbed "Africa's Biggest Street Party" or the "Pride of Nigeria" as it has become Nigeria's biggest carnival and an internationally recognized event. While many from the older generations believe that the origin goes a lot further back to the rapid boom of the Nigerian economy in the 1970s. The economic boom was due to the Niger Delta rejoining Nigeria in 1970 after the Biafran War this caused an increase in oil production after the Biafran War. Control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta played a massive role in the start of the Biafran War when nine of present-day Nigeria's southeastern states declared independence from Nigeria.

After this tragic war, the government welcomed the massive spike in oil production as it helped the country recover from the war. While the impact of this economic boom would eventually lead to a "resource curse," as it barely enhanced Nigeria's political and administrative capacity and capabilities, it did increase incomes and jobs availablity. This meant that citizens had extra money to spend amid the emergence of Fela Kuti's Afrobeats in the 1970s.

The unorganized institutions of the state and poor government management led to the massive oil revenues and extra money barely lasting as Nigeria failed to realize its full potential due to political corruption. This time around, corporate organizations and state governments have organized and come to embrace the potential economic gain from Detty December fully.

Detty December has allowed for an increased boost in tourism, enabling a multitude of promoters to profit from shows and events that are expensive by local standards, but very inexpensive compared to performances by the same acts abroad.

Flight costs have suffered at the hands of inflation. "Ticket prices were going up every single day and within a few minutes of checking, the cost went up by another £100," says Agnes Olowogboye, a 27-yearold financial regulations consultant in London who had been monitoring flight tickets to Lagos.

International flights aren't the only ones affected. Local flights increased during December Maryann Okoli, a corporate communications expert based in Lagos, was shocked when she had to pay the equivalent of about $400 for a one-way ticket to Imo State when it was exactly half the price just a month before.

Nigeria isn't the only country that has embraced the term Detty December. Ghana now uses it to describe similar festivities during December, mostly taking place in the national capital, Accra. This is where Afronation, a festival offering a lineup packed with talented Afrobeats, hip hop, R&B and dancehall musicians, is held on Accra's beaches for a four-day party.

The beauty of Detty December is the ability of Nigeria's youth to still celebrate despite our nation struggling from rapid urbanization, lack of housing and poverty. If you look beyond the endless partying and wealth on display during Detty December and take the time to leave the all-day parties and festivals, you'll likely encounter one of the many shanty towns that appear across the city.

Celebrations are the way Nigerians cope with the chaos and precarity of Nigeria. Extravagant celebrations and functions are nothing new to Nigeria. One thing about Nigerians is that we're gonna make ourselves happy despite our circumstances. Fela Kuti famously said Nigerians have a culture of suffering and smiling.

As Detty December thrives and becomes internationally known, never forget that Nigeria started it cause "Naija no dey Carry last!"

jaz bryant Editor-in-Chief

On Jan. 21, police arrested six demonstrators at a ‘Stop Cop City’ protest in Atlanta. The arrests come after a Georgia state trooper killed an environmental activist three days prior.

The protests against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center construction began in 2021. The resulting interactions between protesters and law enforcement have been increasingly tense. On Jan. 18, a Georgia state trooper attempted to clear a ‘Stop Cop City’ encampment when he was injured. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director (GBI) stated the protester fired first and the officer shot in retaliation. The GBI has decided not to reveal the officer’s identity Footage of the interaction is not available.

The Saturday demonstration started as a peaceful march in remembrance of Tortuguita, the activist killed by law enforcement. Participants shared memories of Tortuguita, who they described as loving and caring.

Atlanta Police say the protests turned violent after 6 p.m. Civilian footage captured the damage done to buildings and police equipment. A subsection of protesters set a police vehicle on fire, smashed business windows and tagged anti-Cop City graffiti. Masked individuals lit fireworks in front of the building that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation and smashed its windows.

Different Georgia officials addressed the event. Mayor Andre Dickens stated, “We will find you, and we will arrest you, and you will be held accountable,” at a Saturday night news conference. Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said several of the individuals had explosive devices. The Mayor and APD commented that many protesters were not from Georgia.

Sean Wolters, an affiliate of the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” movement, told CNN, “Why are we even talking about a few windows really, when we should be focused on the life of (Tortuguita) and what he stood for and investigating what happened to him independently?” He also stated protesters came from out of state and it is

“their constitutional right to do so.” Social media housed flyers for the protest, some reading, “Police killed a protester. Stand up. Fight back.”

Wolters states that Wednesday's killing was “indicative of a level of extreme escalation by the police.”

The protests against the Atlanta Public Training Center, colloquially referred to as ‘Cop City’, are composed of different groups and movements. The Atlanta Police Foundation’s project will cost $90 million and sprawl across 85 acres. The construction is planned in the South River forest, which Atlanta city-planners had previously agreed to protect. The plans include a K-9 training unit, a helicopter pad, a shooting range and a mock village. The city of Atlanta will rent the area to the Atlanta Police Foundation.

The South River forest is located in DeKalb County, a predominantly Black and underfunded area.Some activists state that the facility’s construction would demolish Indigenous Creek land. Others against the training center reference its potential danger to the environment. Many