When asked to comment on the plans, Binance’s director of West and East Africa Nadeem Anjarwalla said in a statement: “As we continue to support blockchain adoption across the African continent, Binance stands ready to collaborate with Export Processing Zones of Nigeria Authority [the regulator overseeing the Lekki Free Zone] establish a virtual free zone with the aim of generating long-term economic growth through digital innovation. We look forward to sharing key details when plans have been finalized.”
It is surprising that a Nigerian government agency has signed a crypto partnership. While Nigeria is one of the world’s largest global markets for cryptocurrencies, it is ranked 11th overall by cryptocurrency research firm Chainalysis. Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index Top 20 in 2022, the country’s regulators have often been hostile. The Central Bank of Nigeria banned banks from allowing cryptocurrency transactions in February 2021.
Adesoji Adesugba, CEO of the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, said in a statement that the partnership with Binance seeks to “generate thriving Virtual Free Trade Zones to tap into a nearly trillion dollar virtual economy in blockchains and digital economy.”
“It is clear that the world is going crypto,” says Edu. “And Nigeria cannot close that door forever.” Incoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s manifesto seems to echo this, saying that his administration will “reform government policy to encourage prudent use of blockchain technology.”
While the development of its digital infrastructure is Itana’s main concern at the moment, building the physical city may not be simple, judging from the experience of nearby development projects. Eko Atlantic, a private city project built on “reclaimed” ocean sand on the outskirts of Lagos, has made faltering progress since 2009.
The Lekki Free Zone itself has been followed by controversies over the alleged displacement of local communities to start the project. Local residents say more than a dozen villages in the Ibeju-Epe area, where the free trade zone was established, have been unilaterally reclaimed by the government, some to make way for a non-operational oil refinery that began construction in 2016.
“They said they wanted to use the land for income purposes, there was no refinery in Lagos State, so they were planning for our children,” says Otunba Ladipo Olusanya Adeokun, a community leader from the Idashon community in Ibeju Lekki. “What about us who will have the children, we will not plan our future? Where is the money that we are going to use to take care of our children?
The communities around the free port area have limited access to powerwhile Lagos himself suffers from a crippling housing shortage. Building a new high-end community like Itana isn’t likely to solve those problems any time soon.
“What I can say is that it’s not going to be cheap,” says Yakubu Aliyu Bununu, a professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria. “If you look at the purchasing power of an average Nigerian, it’s going to take years and years for them to have an income that allows them to live in Eko Atlantico, or Alaro City, or any of the cities that pop up in that area,” says Adunbi. (City of Alaró, where Itana will be located, announces residences at prices from $65,950; the annual average Nigerians income was $2,080 in 2021.)
But Aboyeji says Itana’s goal is not to cloister the wealthy in air-conditioned skyscrapers. “We’re not just trying to get a bunch of wealthy and opulent people together in one space, right? What we are trying to do is assemble a productive young population.”
At this time, the 72,000 square meter land that will be Itana is empty. What was once a swamp has now been filled with orange sand, waiting for the first foundations to be laid. But, as Aboyeji insists, the project is all about potential, about being a vessel for the relentless ambition of the Nigerian tech scene.
“We are not foreigners trying to conquer Nigeria. We are Nigerians trying to figure out, within Nigeria, a place where we can operate our businesses and build for the world,” he says. “I think we will teach the West a lot of lessons on that.”