Business
Eko Atlantic becomes billionaires, corporations, foreign embassies’ new paradise
FBN, Access Bank, US Embassy, MTN, others take stand in city
The Eko Atlantic City in Victoria Island, Lagos, has become the epicentre of Nigeria’s new real estate rush, with businesses and high net-worth individuals scrambling for a cut of the enclave’s pricey lands.
Formerly a wasteland consistently assailed by the Atlantic ocean, the new city, totally transformed with array of amenities and infrastructures, is now a paradise of sort for high-end clients, made up of multinational corporations, banks, construction companies, real estate firms, foreign embassies, telecoms companies, hotel chains and international schools, among others.
The scramble for a space in the city is now so pronounced with frequent reports of new tenants buying into the project.
On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, Nigeria’s premier bank, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new 40-story head office building at the Eko Atlantic City.
When completed, the ambitious project, which is already becoming an engineering and environmental delight due to its technologically advanced, eco-friendly and sophisticated construction design, will be the tallest building in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu, said the new building will solidify FBN’s role as a leader in the African financial industry.
Business Hallmark reports that before First Bank’s latest foray into the futuristic city, rival Access Bank of Nigeria Plc, MTN Nigeria, Television Continental (TVC), Shell Petroleum Development Company, U.S Department of State and other business and political entities had landed on Eko Atlantic City.
New Landlords:
TVC:
One of the new landlords, TVC Communications, a news and current affairs broadcast firm reportedly owned by President Bola Tinubu, unveiled its new ultra-modern office complex in Eko Atlantic City in November 2024.
The TVC House comprises state-of-the-art studios and offices, which will serve the company’s various stations, including TVC News, TVC Entertainment, Max FM Radio and the new Yanga FM (pidgin-speaking).
AMERICAN CONSULATE
In March 2022, the U.S Department of State began construction on a new consulate in Eko Atlantic City.
According to the U.S government, the new consulate, sitting on a 12.2-acre site in the rapidly developing city, will support diplomatic and commercial relations between it and Nigeria and will provide American and Nigerian Consulate employees with a safe, secure, sustainable, and modern workplace.
The project, which is expected to be completed in 2027 at a whooping sum of $537 million, will feature program offices, consular services, cafeteria, multipurpose room, recreational facilities, warehouse, shops, entrance pavilions, parking garage, Utility building and a boat dock.
Designed by a New York architectural firm, Ennead, the new consulate will have a lettable space of 14,685 square metres.
MTN TOWERS
Like First Bank of Nigeria and U.S government, telecoms giant, MTN Nigeria, has also acquired land in the Eko Atlantic City for the construction of its new corporate headquarters in Lagos.
The firm, it would be recalled, had in 2021 announced plans to build a new headquarters in Nigeria. However, nothing was heard again of the plan until recently.
Speaking at a public event in March 2025, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, said the telco was committed to making long-term investments in Nigeria beyond connection.
“As part of this commitment, we have acquired a piece of land in Eko Atlantic City, and we will commence construction once we have gotten the equipment”, Toriola said.
However, the MTN helmsman failed to disclose the cost and timeframe for the new project.
SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY (SPDC)
In January, Shell Nigeria announced the completion of its new corporate headquarters in Nigeria located in Eko Atlantic City
According to the management of SPDC, the feat was achieved through 500,000 job hours with zero loss or injuries.
RUGBY SCHOOL NIGERIA
Another prominent landlord in Eko Atlantic is Rugby School UK, one of the world’s most prestigious boarding schools, renowned for its commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and character development established in the United Kingdom in 1567.
On March 19, 2025, Rugby School Nigeria announced the opening of the Eko Atlantic City annex at an exclusive launch event held at the British
Deputy High commissioner’s residence in Lagos.
The event attracted over 100 distinguished guests and key stakeholders from the education, government, business sectors, and diplomatic communities.
According to the management, the school will commence academic activities in September 2025 with state-of-the-art facilities including science labs, creative arts spaces and world-class sporting facilities.
New Prospects
Apart from these companies that have already set up shops in Eko Atlantic, other corporate organizations are also lining up to have presence in the fortress.
One of them is Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) owned by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Speaking recently at the groundbreaking ceremony for FirstBank’s new corporate headquarters, Aliko Dangote declared his intention to relocate his industrial empire’s headquarters to Eko Atlantic City.
“I want to congratulate you (Femi Otedola) on this groundbreaking ceremony. I will also be here (Eko Atlantic City) very soon”, Dangote declared.
BH checks revealed that Eko Atlantic City currently has over 10 completed towers, with more than 30 under construction.
Experts in the nation’s real estate sector, who spoke with our correspondent on the development, attributed the rush for the new city to several factors.
City’s Attraction
These factors, the stakeholders disclosed, include the enclave’s enclosed nature and exclusivity, enhanced security, adequate infrastructure, price, and the copy-cat syndrome.
The city’s most enduring attraction to investors, BH learnt, is its exclusiveness According to one of the tenants in the City, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, he purchased an apartment in Eko Atlantic due to its remoteness and ‘no thoroughfare’ policy to motorists, non-residents or uncleared visitors.
“Unlike other high-end Island and estates in Lagos that are very porous, you can’t enter Eko Atlantic without being a resident, worker, or having a legitimate business to transact.
“You can only access the island through its two land gates on Ahmadu Bello Way, from the sea or through the air (helicopter).
“The whole of Lagos can be burning without residents having a clue of what’s happening outside the fortress”, the source stated.
Many corporations and individuals, this newspaper learnt, are also rushing to be tenants and landlords in the city because of the rising insecurity in the country.
A colleague journalist working with TVC Communications, one of the new occupants of the City, revealed that the movement of the station to Eko Atlantic was hastened by the destruction of its old office in Ikosi Ketu on Lagos Mainland by protesters during the #EndSARS uprising in October 2020.
“You are quite aware of the ugly fate that befell us during the #EndSARS uprising in October 2020, when protesters stormed our old office and destroyed the property and equipment worth billions of naira. Many workers also lost personal properties like vehicles and laptops.
“To secure their investment and personnel, especially expatriate workers against future attacks, owners of the company decided to move the office to a more secure location.
“You can’t gain access into this place (Eko Atlantic) if you do not have a verifiable business. Even us workers, we pass through multiple layers of security checks, including finger print and facial recognition screenings, on a daily basis, the broadcaster disclosed.
Like TVC, BH learnt that MTN Nigeria is also fast tracking its planned movement to Eko Atlantic after frequent attacks on its assets in the country.
“In 2020, MTN’s offices, including its headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos, were attacked and looted by rioters during the #EndSARS protests.
“It was after that unfortunate incident that the management of the company began nursing the idea of moving its headquarters to a more secured location.
“Two subsequent events, one, attack by Nigerians against South Africa’s interests in Nigeria in protest against Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians leaving in South Africa by the indigenes, as well as the recent attacks on MTN offices by Nigerians angered by the telco’s decision to suspend their lines on the orders of the Federal Government, prompted the management of the GSM company to act fast.
“Already, a land has been acquired for the building of the company’s new headquarter in Eko Atlantic. What is delaying the flag off of construction works is the slow process of obtaining approvals and construction permits from the Lagos State government”, an informed source on the matter told our correspondent.
A security source, who also spoke on the matter on the condition of anonymity, said that in the event of an unlikely attack, which could not be contained, residents of the City could be quickly evacuated through the sea and Lagoon to safer places on the mainland or coastal states like Ondo, Ogun and Delta.
“The foreign missions, as well as wealthy occupants can also quickly jump on their yatches and boats for a quick escape to Togo and Republic of Benin until things improve in Nigeria”, said the former police officer turned security consultant.
Comparable Cost
When compared to Banana Island, where a square metre goes for an average of $2,000 (N3.2million), land is relatively cheaper in Eko Atlantic. This factor is also contributing to the high demand for land space in the city.
According to BH findings, land is sold per square metre in the City as it is priced based on size and location. For instance, while plot sizes in Phases 1 and 2 in the city start from approximately 2,200m2 and prices per square meter start from $1,150 ($1,150 x N1560 x 2,200 = N3.95billion), land located in Phase 3 starts from 1,200 square metre mainly for low-rise residential houses, where the land prices are at $1,050 ($1,050 x N1,560 x 1200 m2 = N1.9billion).
Meanwhile, there is no maximum cap on the amount of land that can be purchased. For instance, the 12.2-acre purchased by the U.S Department of State (for the construction of the new Lagos Consulate) translates to 4,046.8 square metre per acre and 49,349 square metres combined.
Other factors like 24 hours electricity from a dedicated independent power plant, advanced fibre optic telecoms that guarantees super-fast internet services, clean water, efficient waste management, breathtaking ocean views and an aura of tranquility are driving investors to Eko Atlantic.
Not only that, the new coastal City offers businesses a gateway to global outreach. Unknown to many Nigerians, Eko Atlantic is a free zone (Eko Atlantic Free Zone) that connects investors in the zone to the world through trade and commerce.
As a free zone, the City upon completion will have its own bureaucracy and operates as a separate municipality. It will have an offshore banking zone and permit investors to do business and transfer money freely.
“You can see why lands in the city have become hot cakes? No one worth his salt in Nigeria today can afford not to buy into the project. It is a huge opportunity they are not willing to forgo.
“And to think that the project didn’t start off as a City, but a massive effort against coastal tides. This shows the power of sound thinking”, said a real estate operator, Arch. Tunde Ilori.
Business Hallmark recalled that starting from the early 1960s, successive administrations, both civilian and military, embarked on unsuccessful efforts to stop the significant loss of beach land around the Bar Beach area and Lewis Street to coastal erosion.
Despite being nourished and fed with enormous amounts of materials, including concrete tetrapod blocks, the beach continued to erode at an alarming rate until South Energyx Nigeria Ltd. (SENL), the private developer of Eko Atlantic City Development Project, recommended a permanent solution to the Lagos State government and the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006.
The solution involves reclaiming approximately 10 km² of ground in front of Bar Beach, just east of the Mole and the construction of a revetment (stone protection) with a length of around 9 km around the newly reclaimed land to prevent erosion.
The intervention, adopted by the Lagos state government, is now history. Apart from permanently stopping the ocean surges that threatened to swallow up the Bar Beach area, the efforts of Energyx Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, gave birth to a new city, Eko Atlantic, which adjoins Victoria Island and Lekki Phase 1 to the north, and a massive coastline on the entire western, eastern and southern borders.
In just nineteen years (2006-2025), one of Nigeria’s communities most ravaged by coastal erosion has transformed into a world-class destination that showcases the true potential of urban development.
When it is fully completed, the City, which will have 3,000 buildings and 400,000 homes for residential, business, financial, and tourist lodging purposes, will be made up of 10 districts.
They include the Business District, Marina District, Downtown, Eko Island, Fall Lights, Ocean Front, East Side Marina, Eko Drive, Avenues and Four Bridges.
