By Badejo Adedeji Nurudeen
Recently, my residence was gutted by fire. Though my section of the house was not affected but the victim was still in a quagmire as to what to do, but before he could even clear the debris of the fire incident the landlady came into the fray. Pronto! She issued everyone quit notice citing the fire incident and the need for renovation of the house as excuse.
The explanation that only a room was affected by the fire and the fact that the occupier is ready to effect necessary repairs fell on deaf hears. It was based on this that one had to seek for another accommodation, but what I met and saw calls for urgent action and intervention of Lagos State government to avert incessant and needless breakdown of law and order.
In the first instance, Lagos property owners have gone out of control. They fix rents arbitrarily, without any recourse to rules or tenancy laws. In the course of scouting around, I met a landlord who told me categorically that a two bedroom flat is N1 million in a house in Surulere built in 1998. Even when other houses within the same vicinity are N500, 000. He stuck to his guns, telling me he has no apologies since he owned the house.
Another landlord says his own three bedroom apartment located in a place close to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is N1.5 million when a similar apartment in the same vicinity goes for N700, 000. He was adamant and saw nothing wrong, even though the house in question was the old Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) built probably in the 1970s. Same goes for a landlord who told his tenants in a block of two bedroom flats to vacate if they are not ready to pay N800,000 when their neighbour using the same two bedroom flat is paying N500, 000! It is not unusual for a prospective or sitting tenant to witness the above scenarios.
One very common category of property owners in Lagos are the inherited landlords/landladies. These are the group of people who inherit some of these properties from their parents or families. Some of these people are so vicious that rent increment on yearly basis is not considered an issue. In fact, tenants residing in houses being managed by this set of owners have little or no rights as any action is met with a threat of ejection. It is in this kind of places that house owners don’t pay any bills, be it waste management, security, house maintenance, water rate and electricity bill. Tenants are in most cases consigned to all sorts of illegalities that they dare not complain about. It is common knowledge that from Surulere, Gbagada, Yaba, Jibowu, Ebutte-Metta all the way to the Island (Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, particularly in Lekki/Ajah axis almost 65% of built houses has remained un-occupied due to high rents) the exorbitant cost of letting is shocking and unbearable to most tenants. The Lagos hinterland like Ikorodu, Ipaja, Alimosho, Ayobo, Oke-Aro, Abesan, Ijaiye-Ojokoro etc. are not faring better. Property owners remain king and fix rents arbitrarily without neither recourse to the prevailing dwindling economic situation nor regulation by the government. Considering that property appreciation is dependent on government’s provision of amenities like good roads, drainages, pipe-borne water, electricity etc., why is the government silent when the citizenry are being fleeced so brazenly?
The government on its part has been accused of not doing enough in housing provision especially for the low-income earners. The celebrated low cost housing model developed by the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration in the second republic should be replicated as a way of delivering mass houses for the people. Instead, the government, particularly in the last administration of Mr Babatunde Fashola, built houses that were beyond the reach of the common man. It is common knowledge that the cost of houses being built by the government presently is far beyond the capacity of the majority of the citizenry, mostly salary earners. Since government is a social service and not for profit, then it behoves it to look inward for delivery of mass houses with a social template. This will surely mitigate against the continued arbitrariness of property owners in Lagos State. In addition, I will like to call on the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to resume work on the unfinished housing estates left behind by his predecessor, specifically in Ijora, Surulere, Ilubirin/Osborne, Gbagada, Lekki, Akerele, Imota, Ikorodu etc. Completion of these estates must be with a social intent that will benefit the majority, mostly low-income earners.
The government owes it a duty to the citizens to protect their interest from inconsiderate property owners who want to exploit tenants. The recent fuel increase has distorted the lives of many Nigerian low-income earners, now having to grapple with an increment in everything regarding their existence. House rents will surely skyrocket; there is massive increment in food prices, school fees, services and transportation. More than anytime, Lagos State government needs to intervene in the control of rents so as to protect the citizens from predators. The government will need to revisit its edicts and tenancy laws, some dating back to the regime of Mobolaji Johnson till the last attempt by the immediate past government of Babatunde Fashola. The laws need to be re-jigged and fine-tuned for optimum performance, implementation and enforcement. Especially, enforcement to rein in our fellow countrymen and women whose interest is beyond our age-long communalism.
•Nurudeen writes from Lagos.