Asked for comment on the plans, Binance’s West & East Africa director Nadeem Anjarwalla said in a statement: “As we continue to support blockchain adoption across the African continent, Binance is keen to work with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority. [the regulator overseeing the Lekki Free Zone] to establish a virtual free trade zone with the aim of generating long-term economic growth through digital innovation. We look forward to sharing key details when plans are finalized.”
That a Nigerian government agency signed a crypto partnership at all is surprising. While Nigeria is one of the world’s largest global crypto marketplaces, ranking 11th in the Global Crypto Adoption Index Top 20 by crypto research firm Chainalysis in 2022, the country’s regulators have often been hostile. The Central Bank of Nigeria banned banks in February 2021 from enabling cryptocurrency transactions.
Adesoji Adesugba, CEO of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, said in a statement that the partnership with Binance aims to “create thriving virtual free zones to capitalize on a near-trillion dollar virtual economy in blockchains and digital economy.”
“It is clear that the world is becoming cryptocurrency,” says Edu. “And Nigeria can’t lock that door forever.” Incoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s manifesto seems to reflect this, saying his administration will “reform public policies to encourage the judicious use of blockchain technology”.
While developing the digital infrastructure is currently Itana’s main concern, building the physical city may not be easy judging by the experience of nearby development projects. Eko Atlantic, a private urban project built on sand ‘reclaimed’ from the ocean outside Lagos, has made tentative progress since 2009.
The Lekki Free Zone itself has been followed by controversy over the alleged displacement of local communities to make way for 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 revenue purposes, there was no refinery in Lagos state, so they were planning for our children,” said Otunba Ladipo Olusanya Adeokun, a community leader from the Idashon community in Ibeju Lekki. “What about us who will bear the children, are we not going to plan for our future? Where is the money that we are going to use to take care of our children?”
Communities around the free port area have limited access to power, while Lagos itself suffers from a crippling housing shortage. Building a new, high-end community like Itana probably won’t solve those problems any time soon.
“What I can say is that it won’t be cheap,” said Yakubu Aliyu Bununu, a lecturer 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 will take them years and years to earn an income that will allow them to live in Eko Atlantic, or Alaro City, or any of the towns that are springing up in that area. can live,” says Adunbi. (Alaro City, where Itana will be located, advertises homes with prices starting at $65,950; median annual income for Nigerians was $2,080 in 2021.)
But Aboyeji says Itana’s goal isn’t to trap the rich in air-conditioned high-rises. “We’re not just trying to put a bunch of luscious, wealthy people together in one room, are we? What we are trying to do is bring together a productive young population.”
At the moment, the 72,000 square meter piece of land that Itana will become is empty. What was once a swamp is now filled with orange sand, waiting for the first foundations. But, as Aboyeji points out, the project is all about potential, to be a vessel for the restless ambition of Nigeria’s tech scene.
“We are not foreigners trying to conquer Nigeria. We are Nigerians trying to find a place within Nigeria where we can run our businesses and build for the world,” he says. “I think we will teach the West a lot of lessons on that.”
