The 2025 holiday season, popularly known as ‘Detty December,’ has cemented its status as a primary driver of Nigeria’s digital economy. New data from the CBN Fintech Report 2026 reveals that the end-of-year festive surge pushed electronic payment volumes to high levels, as millions of Nigerians and visitors abandoned cash for digital rails. According to the report, the festive period acted as a critical stress test for Nigeria's payment infrastructure. Condia learned from other government sources that this surge in holiday expenditures and the expansion of fintech services drove a 110% increase in electronic money transfer receipts compared to the same period in the previous year. "Stakeholders noted that digital payment volumes increase sharply during this period, particularly across POS channels, interbank transfers, and remittances from the diaspora. Several fin-techs reported significant surges in downtime and service interruptions, especially on weekends and public holidays,” the report notes “These pressures reflect a convergence of seasonal behaviour and digital reliance: a spike in discretionary spending, travel-related remittances, and year-end salary disbursements compound demand across payments infrastructure. The confluence of these factors not only tests technical resilience but also the agility of institutional coordination between regulators, banks, and PSPs.” By October 2025, the Federal Government had already received over ₦360.29 billion in stamp duties from electronic transfers—more than double the previous year’s performance—as December’s exit velocity began to build. The Diaspora Effect: Hedging with Dollars The influx of over 1.2 million visitors during the Detty December window has evolved from a cultural homecoming into a revenue juggernaut. Spending by the diaspora, often in stable foreign currencies, provided a critical hedge for local merchants against the volatile Naira. But despite the influx of hard currency, the average digital transaction has shrunk in value. The fintech sector is now facilitating millions of high-frequency, low-value retail payments compared to pre-2023 periods. While December and early January numbers look like a Fintech Tsunami, the question remains whether fintechs can maintain this velocity once the festive lights are dimmed and the Detty December spenders return abroad.
