The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has disclosed that payment system downtime and service interruptions increased significantly during the December festive season, popularly known in Lagos as “Detty December,” exposing coordination gaps across Nigeria’s digital payments ecosystem.

According to the CBN Fintech Report, insights drawn from surveys of fintech executives, stakeholder workshops and regulatory roundtables, show that while Nigeria’s core payments infrastructure is broadly resilient, peak-season transaction volumes continue to strain systems, particularly across POS channels, interbank transfers and diaspora remittances.

The report noted that stakeholders were evenly split in their assessment of the resilience of the payments system, with half rating it as “very resilient” and the other half describing it as “generally resilient.”

However, inter-institutional coordination was identified as the most critical area requiring improvement during high-volume periods.

The report stated, “The December holiday season, commonly known as “Detty December”, was referenced as a case study of the system’s performance under pressure. Stakeholders noted that digital payment volumes increase sharply during this period, particularly across POS channels, interbank transfers, and remittances from the diaspora.

“Several fintechs reported significant surges in downtime and service interruptions, especially on weekends and public holidays. 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.”