Across the turquoise expanse of the Atlantic, beyond the maze of Lagos traffic and the hum of its concrete sprawl, a new silhouette emerges on the eastern edge of the city. It is not simply another tower or block of flats. It is a new kind of city-virtual, experimental, and ambitious. Nestled deep within the Lekki Free Zone corridor, where cranes hover and the skyline is punctuated by the skeletal frames of half-built futures, Nigeria's first digital special economic zone is coming to life. They call it Itana-a city constructed not of bricks alone, but of code, bandwidth, and policy.
Just this week, Itana signed a landmark memorandum of understanding with Nigeria's Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment. The goal is clear: reshape the Nigerian economy to export digital services at scale, create high-quality jobs, and attract foreign tech companies to operate-not just within Nigeria-but from Nigeria, for the world.
Backed by the Africa Finance Corporation AFC, Itana represents an innovative experiment: a legally distinct, digitally native jurisdiction where global companies can establish themselves, hire, and operate virtually-without the constraints of Nigeria's traditional bureaucracy. "You can launch from Nairobi, scale from Lagos, and serve London-all from your laptop," says Luqman Edu, co-founder and CEO of Itana. "That's the point."
Edu's vision is ambitious. But so is the terrain on which it stands.
A City, Designed to Be Elsewhere