Nigeria: Lagos Housing Crisis – Aac Candidate Rejects Hamzat’s Advice to Young Workers

“While responsible personal financial management is important, telling hardworking Lagosians who cannot afford housing to simply move back to their parents or share accommodation is not a housing policy,” he said.

The African Action Congress (AAC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Oluwadamola Sol-Nuyi, has rejected Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat’s advice to young workers struggling with high rents to consider living with their parents, relatives or sharing accommodation.

In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, Mr Sol-Nuyi stated that the advice amounted to an acknowledgement of Lagos’ housing crisis rather than a solution to it.

Mr Hamzat, who is also the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), gave the advice during a question-and-answer session on Nigeria Info FM recently.

He was responding to a question about how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a self-contained apartment or mini-flat reportedly costing about N1 million a year.

Mr Hamzat noted that young workers should choose accommodation they could afford rather than feel pressured to rent apartments beyond their means.

“If I start work as a young person and I’m not married, a lot of us live with our parents. A lot of us live with our cousins,” he said.

He also advised residents not to spend more than 40 per cent of their income on rent, saying they had other expenses such as food, clothing and transportation.

“In fact, if you spend more than 40 per cent of your income on rent, it is too high because you must eat, you must buy clothes, you must do transportation,” Mr Hamzat stated.

The deputy governor also advocated mortgage financing as a way of making home ownership more accessible to residents.

He stressed that Lagos could no longer rely on a system where people were expected to pay the full cost of a house at once.

Mr Hamzat cited a N7 million property as an example, saying a buyer could pay a 10 per cent deposit and spread the balance over 10 years, with the monthly repayment determined by the buyer’s income.

He said the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) system would also help the government establish residents’ identity, address and place of work when assessing their ability to access housing finance.

But Mr Sol-Nuyi stated that the government should do more than advise residents on how to cope with high rents.

“While responsible personal financial management is important, telling hardworking Lagosians who cannot afford housing to simply move back to their parents or share accommodation is not a housing policy,” he said.

AAC calls for more affordable housing

Mr Sol-Nuyi explained that successive administrations had failed to adequately address the housing needs created by Lagos’ growing population and rapid urban expansion.

He questioned why workers earning legitimate incomes still struggle to find decent accommodation in the city where they work.

“Lagos is an economic powerhouse. It should also be a place where teachers, nurses, engineers, artisans, civil servants, entrepreneurs, security personnel, transport workers and other ordinary residents can afford to live with dignity,” he said.

The AAC candidate noted that housing should be treated as an essential part of economic planning because of its effect on family stability, public health and workers’ productivity.

He promised that his proposed administration would expand affordable and social housing for low- and middle-income households and essential workers.

He also proposed community-based housing schemes involving cooperatives and private developers, improved access to housing finance and investment in infrastructure in underserved communities.

Mr Sol-Nuyi said urban renewal should not result in the destruction of communities without adequate resettlement and compensation.

He also called for greater transparency in land allocation and housing programmes.

Mortgage financing

Lagos State has previously promoted mortgage-based housing schemes, including the Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS), which allows subscribers to pay for homes over several years.

Mr Hamzat stated that such arrangements were necessary because many residents could not afford to pay for houses outright.

He also acknowledged that housing affordability was linked to the wider economy, saying residents needed better incomes to cope with the cost of living.

“What is important is we must also build our economy in such a way that people earn better,” he said.

Mr Sol-Nuyi, however, explained that the housing crisis required more direct government intervention, including increased housing supply, infrastructure investment, affordable financing and better urban planning.

He urged Lagos residents to demand clear commitments from political candidates on housing, including specific targets, budgets, locations and delivery timelines.

“Lagos must not merely be a city where people come to work. Lagos must be a city where the people who build, serve and sustain it can afford to live,” he said.

By Premium Times.