DUBAI: American singer and songwriter Akon has become the official owner of an African city named after him.
“Just finalized the agreement for Akon City in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future,” the star wrote to his 6.6 million Instagram followers.
Last week, government officials announced that the 46-year-old artist had pledged to invest in tourism in his native Senegal.
Best known for his rhythm and blues hits such as “Locked Up” and “Smack That,” the singer signed a deal with the west African nation’s state-owned tourism company SAPCO.
Alioune Ndiaye, SAPCO’s secretary-general, told AFP that the deal was a memorandum of understanding, so the size of the future investment was still unclear.
However, the tourism official pointed out that Akon planned to build a complex in the seaside village of Mbodiene, which is around 120 km south of the capital Dakar.
The rapper, whose real name is Aliaune Badara Thiam, spent his early childhood in Senegal but moved to the US at the age of seven, where he later rose to superstardom.
