BREAKING: Lagos Government Brings Back Fanti Festival, Plans Full-Year Tourism Calendar to Boost Cultural Events

In a move to protect cultural heritage and reconnect younger generations with their roots, the Lagos State Government has revived the historic Fanti Festival, a vibrant cultural procession rooted in the traditions of Afro-Brazilian returnees on Lagos Island.

Alongside the cultural revival, the Lagos State Government is also developing a comprehensive tourism calendar to distribute visitor traffic more evenly throughout the year and reduce the December overload that has come to define the now-famous ‘Detty December’.

The return of the Fanti Festival, which will be held on Easter Sunday, 20th April 2025, championed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson-Awoyinka, seeks to reposition the festival as an annual, calendarised event and a flagship celebration of Lagos Island’s fading cultural identity.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Arts and Culture, Toke Benson-Awoyinka, described the Fanti Festival as a colourful celebration rooted in the traditions of Afro-Brazilian returnees on Lagos Island and a cultural asset that must be preserved.

“Our culture, our heritage, is fast dying. And the only way we can bring it back is to make sure that we hand it over to the next generation,” she said.

“Lagos is largely a fishing community, but sometime in the 19th century, a group of Afro-Brazilian returnees, mainly of Yoruba descent, returned back to Lagos Island, and they brought back rich culture, blend of music, Catholic religion, infusion of dance, culture, food. And that’s what gave birth to the Frijon on Good Friday as well. The same group of people that we call, I believe, Popo Aguda – Aguda is Catholic, if I’m correct, came back with so much richness of culture and heritage. It’s isolated to Lagos Island, but it’s a very big demography of the people of Lagos Island as well.

“And you know, in Lagos Island, we’ve intermarried as well, so a lot of people are interested. And the best way for us to actually hand over that heritage and make sure it doesn’t die, like a lot of the things that are, a lot of our culture, a lot of our values that have been eroded from westernisation, Lagos state government thought this year we need to bring it back, calendarise it, and make sure that every year we celebrate it, and then we hand it over to our children as well.”

The Commissioner explained that although the Fanti Festival had not stopped as it was being celebrated quietly within communities, the Lagos State Government is now consolidating the festival into a unified public event, even working closely with the Brazilian Descendants Association.

This year’s edition will feature colour-coded processions, traditional masquerades, highlife music, and authentic Lagos Island seafood including crab, fried shrimp, and fried fish.

“We’re bringing the old and the new and putting that in fusion,” she added.

The parade will culminate at the Tafawa Balewa Square arcade ground, where dignitaries including members of the diplomatic corps are expected. Invitations have been extended to embassies, and the event is open to the public.

“The festival is open to all and sundry. Everybody can come in. Everybody can gather at the arcade ground on Sunday and along the streets of Lagos Island. It’s not restricted to anybody. It’s a celebration of culture. It’s a celebration of heritage. It’s a celebration of the colours of Lagos, and we want everybody to be a part of it. So a lot of people have been asking, how do we get in? We ask people to register so that we can cater for the number of people. But it actually doesn’t deter anybody who is not registered from coming. So come or come, and we’ll expect to see everybody on Sunday.”

In a broader effort to restructure tourism planning, Benson-Awoyinka revealed that the state is compiling a Lagos Tourism Calendar that spans from January to December, offering residents and visitors a full-year view of cultural events, which is intended to give tourists, diaspora communities, and residents more structured opportunities to experience the richness of Lagos throughout the year.

“We’ve actually called out to all the stakeholders in the industry. We want to know when your events would be. We don’t want haphazard events. So we want to calendarise Lagos from January to December,” she said.

“One of the warnings I gave is that tourism is calendarised, and we would not alter our tourism calendar because of religion. So we’ve told everybody, send in your entries. Let’s know what the dates are. Let it be sacrosanct. And then the Lagos state government issues a tourism calendar.”

She noted that Lagos can no longer afford to concentrate all major events in December—a period now famously referred to as “Detty December”—as it leads to inflated flight prices, logistical stress, and missed tourism potential throughout the rest of the year.

Benson-Awoyinka said, “A lot of people cannot come into Nigeria in December because it’s expensive. Ticket prices are going through the roof because a lot of our people are identifying with our heritage and our culture. And they all want to come back.”

“We’re all going to come together as a government to make sure that it is seamless. That calendar will be out any moment from now. We’re almost done with the compilation, so people can choose what time of the year they want to come to Lagos. And plan ahead. And then it doesn’t have to be December.”

She also hinted at preparations for the 10th anniversary of Detty December’ and confirmed that past commissioners and key industry figures would work together to shape a more robust, inclusive, and globally competitive tourism strategy.

The upcoming Fanti Festival and the soon-to-be-released Tourism Calendar are expected to not only reinvigorate Lagos’ cultural scene but also redefine how tourism is experienced across the city.