Eko Atlantic City (EAC) · RC 01689 · Victoria Island, Lagos
Delivered Azuri Towers, Nigeria's tallest residential tower. Fee-based advisory focused on true cost modelling, development optimisation, and capital protection for landowners and institutional developers.
At Makaya Consult we treat the project of our clients as our own. We embody the goals and aspirations of each development and make its delivery our personal responsibility.
We walk with you from the inception of the idea to the delivery of the vision — every decision, every challenge, every milestone.
This is not a mandate. It is a commitment.
About Makaya Consult
Makaya Consult FZE (RC 01689) is the independent development financial advisory firm established within the Eko Atlantic Free Trade Zone. We provide fee-based, fully independent development financial advisory to landowners, developers, and institutional investors in Eko Atlantic City.
We act as the independent financial conscience on the owner's side of the table — optimising development configurations, modelling the true cost of capital, and protecting your investment by asking the critical financial questions standard project teams leave unasked. This is not an optional service. It is the reason projects get completed within their financial parameters.
"The developer who understood what Eko Atlantic was becoming in 2009 is now available to guide your project."
Founded and led by Olawale Opayinka — trained as an actuary, with deep EAC expertise spanning from 2009 to the present — Makaya Consult operates from a position of genuine, long-standing knowledge that no new entrant to this city can replicate.
As CEO of Eko Development Company FZE (2019–2023), Opayinka steered Azuri Towers — three towers including Nigeria's tallest residential tower at 146 metres — through COVID-19 and supply chain shocks, delivering on time and on budget. That same rigour serves every Makaya Consult mandate.
Olawale Opayinka
Founder & MD / Chief Executive Officer
What We Do
From land acquisition through to project handover, Makaya Consult guides clients across every phase of development in EAC. We take a limited number of mandates each year — engagements built on principle, not volume.
01
Expert guidance on securing prime EAC and Victoria Island (V.I.) land parcels — site analysis, pricing strategy, and transaction management. We are the advisors landowners and developers turn to for land purchase in Eko Atlantic City.
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Tailored development options — residential towers, mixed-use, and commercial — paired with comprehensive architectural briefs aligned to your vision.
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Supporting clients with fundraising strategies, financial modelling, and value engineering to optimise capital structure and development costs for EAC projects.
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Full end-to-end delivery including SPV setup, consultant coordination, value engineering, EAC regulatory approvals, and on-site construction oversight.
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Championing the EAC value proposition to investors, corporate clients, and prospective residents. Sales support for completed projects.
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Leveraging our board's networks across capital markets, energy, banking, architecture, and government for client access and project facilitation.
Learn more →Track Record
Azuri Towers — Nigeria's tallest residential tower — is the proof of concept. Actuarial rigour, disciplined programme leadership, and end-to-end delivery through a global pandemic.
Azuri Towers · Completed · Marina District, EAC
2009
Founder begins deep involvement in EAC through financial modelling. The same year, organises the only Africa visit in the career of Gerald D. Hines — one of the world's most accomplished developers. The delegation meets with Lagos political leadership, establishing the belief that has driven every decision since.
2013
Delivered the landmark ceremony marking the reclamation of five million square metres of Eko Atlantic City on 22 February 2013 — attended by the President of Nigeria, the 42nd President of the United States, the Governor of Lagos State, and international dignitaries.
2019
Olawale Opayinka appointed CEO of Eko Development Company FZE to steer the Azuri Towers project through a challenging development phase.
2020
COVID-19 pandemic and significant external shocks navigated without halting construction or compromising quality.
2023
Azuri Towers delivered on time and on budget — cementing the Makaya Consult leadership pedigree in EAC.
2024
Development consulting firm established in the Eko Atlantic Free Trade Zone, headquartered at P2 Retail, Azuri Towers.
Light-Up Ceremony — December 2021
Azuri Towers — Light-Up Ceremony & Delivery, December 2021
The Heritage of the Firm
1970
Gerald D. Hines builds on Post Oak Boulevard — an underpriced corridor — and creates Uptown Houston. His principle: build for what the city is becoming, not what it is today.
2009
Olawale Opayinka organises a delegation including Gerald D. Hines and economist Bismarck Rewane for a structured session at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos. The delegation concludes with meetings with Lagos political leadership — establishing a shared belief in EAC's destiny.
2013
Delivered the ceremony marking the reclamation of five million square metres of EAC — attended by the President of Nigeria, the 42nd President of the United States, and the Governor of Lagos State. The belief of 2009 was becoming demonstrable reality.
2017–2021
Construction and delivery of the project that validated the 2009 belief. Commissioned on schedule, December 2021, through a global pandemic. Nigeria's tallest residential tower.
2024
The advisory firm that carries the Hines heritage forward. The developer who understood EAC's future in 2009 now advises yours.
We act as the independent financial conscience on the owner's side of the table — optimising development configurations, modelling the true cost of capital, and protecting your investment by asking the critical financial questions standard project teams leave unasked. This is not an optional service. It is the reason projects get completed within their financial parameters.
“Build the thing that reveals what the city is becoming — not what it is today.”
— Gerald D. Hines (1925–2020) · Lagos, Nigeria · February 2009
In February 2009, Gerald D. Hines — the Houston developer who created Uptown Houston, built in 47 countries, and held the Urban Land Institute's lifetime achievement award — made his only journey to Africa. He chose Nigeria.
Olawale Opayinka organised the delegation: a structured session at the Federal Palace Hotel with Hines and economist Bismarck Rewane. They presented the case for what Nigeria's cities were becoming. Hines assessed it with the same rigour he had applied to Moscow in 1991, Warsaw in 1992, and Houston in 1970.
Eko Atlantic in 2024 is the opportunity that Lagos was in 2009. The developer who built that heritage — and proved it by delivering Azuri Towers — now brings it to your project.
5,000,000 SQM Reclamation · Dedication Ceremony · February 2013
Our Office
Makaya Consult FZE operates from P2 Retail, Azuri Towers — a premium, architecturally distinctive office at the heart of EAC's Marina District.
The glass-fronted, three-floor bespoke steel structure is a statement of permanence and ambition — placing us at the epicentre of the city's activity and giving our clients immediate access to on-the-ground intelligence.
Leadership
Our board brings together exceptional expertise across capital markets, legal practice, real estate, media, and architecture — united by a shared commitment to realising Makaya Consult's vision in EAC.
Non-Executive Directors
Haruna Jalo-Waziri
Chairman
Distinguished capital markets leader. Former MD/CEO of the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) for eight transformative years, and previously Executive Director at the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Three decades of financial expertise and governance leadership.
LinkedIn
Seye Kosoko
Vice Chairman
Seasoned corporate leader and legal practitioner with 30+ years across banking, finance, telecoms, and law. Formerly Company Secretary of FBN Holdings and Head of Legal at Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria. Called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985.
LinkedIn
Prof. Erekpitan Ola-Adisa
Board Member
Professor of Architecture with deep expertise in sustainable and green design, architectural practice, and viability. ARCON-registered with NIA fellowship. Brings critical design thinking and sustainability insight to Eko Atlantic development projects.
LinkedInExecutive Directors
Olawale Opayinka
Founder & MD / Chief Executive Officer
Trained as an actuary. Fifteen years of embedded knowledge of EAC's development, regulatory, and financial ecosystem. Former CEO of Eko Development Company FZE (2019–2023), delivering Azuri Towers on time and on budget through COVID-19. The driving force behind Makaya Consult's vision and growth.
LinkedIn
Ariyo Opayinka
Executive Director — Media & Communications
Leads media strategy, communications, and brand positioning for Makaya Consult FZE. Drives visibility across EAC and the broader Nigerian and international real estate market, ensuring the company's story reaches the right audiences.
Company Secretary
Famuyiwa, Jessa, Kwaccido & Osijo.
Legal Practitioners · Lagos & Abuja
The Opportunity
EAC is one of the most transformative urban development projects on the African continent — a purpose-built financial and residential hub on reclaimed land off Victoria Island, Lagos.
Total Development Scale
10M m²
Master-planned area across all districts
Target Residents
250k
At full city build-out
Reclaimed to Date
6.5 km²
Out of 10 km² total — 2028 target for completion
Daily Commuters
150k
At full build-out capacity
Full Reclamation Target
2028
Planned completion of land reclamation
Makaya's Presence in EAC
15+ yrs
Embedded in the city since its earliest phase
Understanding the market
EAC offers unique structural advantages unavailable elsewhere in Lagos — but also unique complexities. Understanding both is the first step to protecting your capital.
100% foreign ownership, zero withholding tax on dividends, free profit repatriation, and duty-free imports. Structural advantages unavailable elsewhere in Lagos — relevant to every capital structure decision.
All land sold directly by South Energyx Nigeria Limited with full title documentation. Development control sits with the EAC Development Authority — a regime separate from Lagos State. Understanding this distinction is essential before any application is submitted.
Ten distinct districts with varying plot ratios, height limits, and frontage requirements. Misreading the planning envelope is the most common — and most expensive — early mistake any developer makes in EAC.
24/7 independent power, fibre-optic connectivity, potable water, and stormwater drainage are operational across Phases 1 and 2. A development-ready infrastructure base that no other location in Lagos can match.
Marine logistics, specialist foundation engineering, and the regulatory overlay add cost over mainland Lagos. This premium is real and must be modelled honestly. The compensating factor is a pricing tier that justifies it — if the product is right.
Nigerian lenders are increasingly familiar with EAC assets as security. Off-plan residential sales — validated by the Azuri Towers model — reduce equity drawdown and satisfy pre-sale requirements ahead of construction finance drawdown.
A purpose-built, master-planned city rising from the Atlantic Ocean alongside Victoria Island. Protected by the Great Wall of Lagos, it offers flood-free world-class infrastructure within a Free Trade Zone framework providing unique commercial and regulatory advantages.
With Azuri Towers delivered in 2023 and infrastructure mature across key districts, the development risk profile has fundamentally shifted. Early-mover advantage is narrowing — landowners who act in this window benefit from rising land values, growing occupier demand, and EAC's accelerating international profile.
“There is an opportunity… with the potential to move the Nigerian economy from under $400 billion today to between $1.4 trillion and $14 trillion over the next 50 years.”— Olawale Opayinka · DAWN Commission / BRACE Commission Forum · March 2026
Eko Atlantic City is a development of South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group (founded by Gilbert Chagoury and led by Ronald Chagoury), in strategic partnership with the Lagos State Government.
Insights
Analysis and practical knowledge from the only advisory firm whose principal built Nigeria's tallest residential tower in EAC from the ground up.
Development Advisory
Most development failures in Eko Atlantic City are predictable. They share a common origin: questions that were not asked early enough. Here are the seven that matter most.
Read article →Free Trade Zone
The FTZ designation changes the calculus on equity structure, profit repatriation, and withholding tax in ways that most developers — and their lawyers — are not yet accounting for.
Read article →Case Study
Nigeria's tallest residential tower was delivered on schedule through a global pandemic. These are the decisions — financial, operational, and structural — that made that possible.
Read article →Careers
Makaya Consult FZE is a small, expert firm operating at the frontier of Africa's most ambitious urban development. We recruit exceptional people who share our belief that the impossible does not exist.
View All VacanciesOperations · MC-OPS-001
Full-time · Mid–Senior · Immediate Start
View & ApplySpeculative Applications
We grow based on talent — send a speculative application at any time.
Email UsAll current vacancies are listed at makayaconsult.com/vacancies. If you do not see a role that matches your profile, send a speculative application to [email protected]
Get In Touch
Whether you are a landowner, developer, or looking to explore opportunities in EAC — we welcome the opportunity to discuss how Makaya Consult FZE can support your project.
