Initial designs for Akon City, with its boldly curvaceous skyscrapers, were compared by commentators to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda in Marvel's Black Panther films and comic books.


But after five years of setbacks, the 800-hectare site in Mbodiène - about 100km (60 miles) south of the capital, Dakar - remains mostly empty. The only structure is an incomplete reception building. There are no roads, no housing, no power grid.


"We were promised jobs and development," one local resident told the BBC. "Instead, nothing has changed."


Meanwhile the star's Akoin cryptocurrency has struggled to repay its investors over the years, "It wasn't being managed properly - I take full responsibility for that."