In 2018, Akon commenced plans to build a futuristic pan-African city in Senegal, his country of birth. He described it as “a real-life Wakanda” in reference to the Afro-futuristic city in Marvel’s movie, Black Panther.
The Locked Up singer, who spent most of his childhood in the West African nation, announced that the city will use a cryptocurrency called AKoin.
Despite the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy in 2020, he assured that he was going ahead with his plans to construct the city. He told the Associated Press that the construction of the $6 billion project will commence in 2021.
RELATED STORIES
Providing more details about the project, the musician said he hoped it would create jobs for locals in the West African nation as well as serve as a “home back home” for Black Americans and other people in the diaspora who are being racially discriminated against.
The singer, who traveled to the site of the project in Mbodienne with government officials in August 2020, said he had been able to acquire one-third of the $6 billion needed for the project. He, however, did not reveal the investors, saying non-disclosure agreements are in effect. The project was expected to be completed by 2023 but it is now in doubt as it has faced significant challenges and delays.
The Senegalese government is not happy about the project’s delay. Through the state-owned Sapco-Senegal, which is responsible for coastal and tourism development, the government has issued an ultimatum to Akon to commence substantial construction work or risk losing the majority of the land allocated for the project, according to Newsweek. The agency noted that the singer risks losing 90 percent of the land if no significant work is done on it.
Meanwhile, Akon’s team has said that preliminary work, such as geotechnical studies and land clearing, is underway. Project manager Cheick Seck from Dakar-based Axiome Construction maintains that they are awaiting further instructions to proceed with significant construction. Akon is expected to visit Dakar soon to address the concerns and reassure stakeholders of the project’s viability, Bloomberg said.
Legal hurdles
Aside from the threat by the Senegalese government to the singer-entrepreneur, the project is also facing legal hurdles. In 2021, Akon’s former business partner, Devyne Stephens, brought a $4 million lawsuit against the singer, claiming that he still owed him money from a 2018 settlement agreement, the Guardian Newspaper reported.
In March 2022, a legal document by Stephens, who has worked with Akon and other celebrities like Jay-Z and Destiny’s Child, asked the Manhattan Supreme Court judge to freeze the singer’s assets in New York until a judgment is reached on the $4 million lawsuit Stephens filed against Akon in 2021. Stephens argued that the court must freeze the musician’s assets to enable him to get his money if the judgment goes in his favor.
In an affidavit, Stephens’s lawyer, Jeffrey Movit, said Akon City and Akoin exhibited “many of the trademark characteristics … of fraudulent business ventures such as Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes”. He further alleged that Akon City was “likely a scam”.
Despite denying the allegations about Akon City, the singer paid $850,000 to settle part of the ongoing lawsuit in April 2022.
Akon also noted that the Covid pandemic was to blame for the delays and that plans were “100,000% moving,” according to the Guardian. He further noted that he was working on a 10-year timetable to complete the project.
