Eko Atlantic City Foreign Buyer Guide: South Energyx, the Chagoury Group, and the Reality of Reclaimed Land

Eko Atlantic City is a planned 10 million square metre development on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean off Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. The developer is South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Lebanese-Nigerian Chagoury Group, working in strategic partnership with the Lagos State Government and supported by the Federal Government. As of early 2026, approximately 6.52 million square metres of land have been reclaimed, and the Great Wall of Lagos, the project's primary sea defence, has reached 6.8 kilometres of its planned 8.6 kilometre length. For foreign buyers, the relevant questions are who holds title, who issues approvals, what the price actually buys, and where the project's political risk sits.

The Title Structure Is Unusual

Eko Atlantic does not sit on standard Lagos State land. The reclaimed parcel is governed by a tripartite arrangement under which South Energyx Nigeria Limited carries the development concession, the Lagos State Government holds the underlying allocation authority, and the Federal Capital Territory rules do not apply because Lagos is a state. Title at the unit level is conveyed via a sub-lease from South Energyx, backed by the master concession.

This is not a defect. The arrangement is intentional and was put in place to give South Energyx the operational control needed to develop a master-planned city. But foreign buyers should understand three things:

The C of O at the master parcel level sits with South Energyx and the Lagos State Government. Your unit-level title is a sub-lease, typically for 78 to 99 years, derived from that master concession.

The Eko Atlantic City Administration functions as a quasi-municipal authority for the development. It collects service charges, enforces building covenants, and manages the public realm. This is closer to the structure of a master-planned community in the Gulf or Singapore than the standard Lagos State Lands Bureau workflow.

The development is registered with the Lagos State Lands Bureau and the project's master title is searchable, but unit-level transfers require South Energyx's consent in addition to the standard Governor's Consent under Section 22 of the Land Use Act 1978.

Lagos adds a second layer that applies to foreigners specifically. Under the Acquisition of Lands by Aliens Law of Lagos State, a foreigner acquiring an interest in land needs the approval of the Governor, except where the interest runs for less than one year. Combined with Section 22, that means your transaction carries consent obligations that have to be perfected, not promised. Consent that is applied for but never registered is one of the most common ways a Lagos purchase unravels years later, at the moment the owner tries to sell or mortgage.

The Price Reality

Eko Atlantic pricing currently runs at approximately USD 1,720 per square metre at the lower end of finished residential stock, scaling significantly higher for premium units in towers like Eko Pearl, Eko Energy Estate, and Azuri. For a 100 square metre two-bedroom unit, that puts the floor price at roughly USD 172,000 for shell, and finished marketed pricing typically lands between USD 300,000 and USD 600,000. The waterfront and Marina-facing inventory pushes prices well above the USD 1 million mark.

For comparison, prime Ikoyi (the historically most expensive Lagos district) trades at roughly USD 4,000 to USD 6,000 per square metre for finished detached homes. Eko Atlantic's premium positioning targets the institutional and corporate buyer pool that needs a Lagos foothold but does not want to deal with the title-search uncertainty that characterises older Lagos neighbourhoods.

The Foreign Capital Pathway

Diaspora and foreign buyers acquiring Eko Atlantic units typically follow one of three workflows.

The first is direct purchase via a Nigerian-incorporated holding company. This is the cleanest structure for repatriation, because corporate ownership lets you flow rental income through a Nigerian entity and remit dividends offshore under the Companies Income Tax Act 2004 and the Central Bank of Nigeria Form A regime.

The second is direct individual ownership, typically used by Nigerian diaspora returning capital. The Certificate of Capital Importation (CCI) issued by an authorised dealer bank at the point of inflow is the document that preserves your right to remit sale proceeds offshore. Without a CCI, the Central Bank's foreign exchange manual restricts repatriation.

The third is via a real estate fund or pooled vehicle. Several Nigerian asset managers (notably ARM, FBN Quest, and Stanbic IBTC) run real estate funds with Eko Atlantic exposure that allow institutional and high-net-worth foreign investors to access the project without the unit-level operational burden.

The project's banking relationships are worth knowing because they shape financing and liquidity. FCMB, First Bank, Access Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank have financed and partnered on Eko Atlantic, with international participation from BNP Paribas Fortis and KBC.

What to Verify Before Committing

The standard Eko Atlantic transaction requires four documents on the buyer side. Insist on all of them in writing before any deposit.

The Sale and Purchase Agreement issued by South Energyx Nigeria Limited or the relevant developer of the specific tower. Read the assignment clauses carefully. Some early-phase Eko Atlantic agreements restrict resale for a minimum holding period.

The Sub-Lease registered with the Lagos State Lands Bureau under the Land Instruments Registration Law of Lagos State. Registration is what gives your title priority against subsequent dealings.

The Service Charge Schedule from the Eko Atlantic City Administration. Eko Atlantic service charges run materially above standard Lagos estate fees and are denominated in part in USD. Budget for this on a multi-year horizon.

The Certificate of Capital Importation, if you are remitting foreign currency for the purchase. Issued by your authorised dealer bank within 24 to 48 hours of inflow.

Platforms like Bektu consolidate developer delivery history and project-level due diligence data for Eko Atlantic and other major Lagos developments. The verified developer record matters more on a project like this than the brochure.

The Risk Pile

Eko Atlantic's geographic risk is the most discussed but the least specific. The Great Wall of Lagos is engineered to withstand a 1-in-1000-year storm event under the project's original Royal Haskoning DHV technical specifications. The project has weathered every Atlantic surge since reclamation began without significant damage. The flood risk story is largely managed.

The political risk is more interesting. The development is publicly associated with the Chagoury Group, and successive Lagos State administrations have maintained the partnership. The federal layer carries more variance, particularly around foreign exchange policy and any future move to restrict offshore remittances of property sale proceeds. Foreign buyers should price in the prospect that the Naira-Dollar conversion path for an exit could become harder before it becomes easier.

The execution risk is the long tail. Eko Atlantic is roughly 65 percent reclaimed and considerably less than 65 percent built out. Buyers acquiring in towers still under construction face the standard off-plan delivery risk, mitigated only by the developer's CAC registration, the master concession structure, and the visible track record on completed towers.

The distinction that matters at this stage is between South Energyx and the sub-developer of your specific tower. South Energyx delivers the land and the master infrastructure, then sells serviced plots to a range of builders whose delivery quality varies widely. Confirm your sub-developer's registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission, review what it has actually completed before, and speak to owners in those earlier buildings about handover and defect resolution.

Bottom Line

Eko Atlantic City is the most ambitious greenfield real estate project in West Africa and one of the most structurally interesting urban developments in the world. For foreign buyers, the title structure is unusual but defensible, the pricing is at a premium to legacy Lagos but with materially better infrastructure, and the political and execution risks are real but priced into entry levels. The serious work is on the Sub-Lease registration, the Certificate of Capital Importation, and the long-term service charge exposure. The Chagoury Group's South Energyx subsidiary is a real developer with a real concession, but every unit you buy lives or dies on the documentation in your name, not on the brochure.