NEARLY four months after the removal of fuel subsidy and the resultant economic hardship, residents in Lagos are yet to experience relief from surging food prices, transportation fares and arbitrary increase of house rents by Lagos landlords. This is despite of several interventions in the form of palliatives from the state and local government authorities in the state.
From the Island to the Mainland and to the remotest communities in the Centre of Excellence, while food prices have increased by 100 per cent, landlords issue rent adjustment notices to tenants citing inflation, subsidy removal and unregulated food prices.
In Lagos, in spite of the state government’s huge investment in the housing sector, access to decent and affordable accommodation remains a major challenge for the residents.
However, landlords lash on to the housing deficit to exploit their tenants.
This was the plight of Hajiya Ajogbe Lawal, a seamstress in the Agodo community in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area at the hands of her shylock landlord.
Before the fuel subsidy removal, Hajiya Lawal had it rosy with her landlord but the relationship turned sour when she was served with a letter informing her of a 100 per cent increase in her shop rent.
For her sewing business, Lawal maintains a 10 by 12 shop where she pays N120,000 annually as rent. Meanwhile, with the expiration of her rent in September 2023, she explained, her landlord served her a notice of N100,000 increase, pushing her annual rent to N220,00. The shop owner cited fuel subsidy removal and hike in food prices as reasons for the action.
She spoke to Saturday Tribune: “I am a yearly tenant at a shop in Agodo community in Egbe-Idimu LCDA. I maintain a medium size shop on which I paid N10,000 annually. I have been struggling to meet up with the rent because patronage has been low, considering the poor state of the economy.
“But without any consideration for our plight, my landlord came to my shop and announced an addition of N100,000 which, according to her, took immediate effect.
“I was shocked by her announcement. Sometimes in a month, I make less than N5,000 because our business is seasonal. She announced an increase of N100,000 and threatened all occupants to vacate her shops if we were not ready to comply.
“But after so much lobbying and persuasion, she reduced the rent from N220,000 to N180,000 with an instruction that we must all pay by the end of October.
“In the last four months, it has been a festival of suffocating fees and price increases. There were increases in my children’s school fees, and then there was hike in fuel and food prices and transport fares and now shop rent.
“It is ridiculous spending so high on petrol, food items and transport fares but more ridiculous is the arbitrary increase in house and shop rents.
“Residents in Lagos are suffering and are on the edge. We struggle to feed. We struggle to get transported from one place to another and now landlords are making life miserable for us with their senseless increase in house and shop rents.
“The Lagos State government needs to wade into the housing crisis and the exploitative nature of landlords. There is no price control mechanism, the landlords just increase rents at will without any consideration for the plight and financial status of the tenants. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu must do something to save tenants from the shackles of landlords in the state.”
According to a report by Pison Housing Company on the state of the real estate market in Nigeria, Lagos housing deficit is at three million units.
Similarly, according to the state Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, Lagos is a rental market where 80 per cent of its over 20 million population lives in rented accommodation.
Since he relocated from Kwara State to Lagos about five years ago, Shehu Amidu, who lives in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos State, has had his share of unpleasant living in Lagos, especially at the hands of the landlords.
He narrated how his landlord removed the door to his apartment for failing to honour an increase of N50,000 one year into his tenancy.
Amidu said: “I was forcibly ejected from my apartment in Ikorodu by my landlord who increased my rent after my first payment expired. I pleaded with him but he refused and decided to remove my door and later my window, believing that when mosquito bites became unbearable, I would leave. And true to his belief, I left when mosquitoes invaded the entire apartment.
“I left Ikorodu for Ebute-Metta only to be confronted with N100,000 after the expiration of my rent.
“Food prices are no longer affordable. One kilogram of Semo that sold for N500 about two months ago now costs N1,000. Garri, rice and other staple food items are out of the reach of ordinary people. In the midst of this, the Lagos State government, through the distribution of food items, intervened but how many residents can boast of receiving such palliatives?
“We are appealing for a positive turnaround because if this should continue, the consequence will be dire, especially among youths.”
For Mr Gbenga Owotimo, a cab driver on the Island, fuel subsidy removal has adversely affected his business and his immediate family.
Speaking on how it affected his transport business, he said: “It is as if transporters are now working for fuel attendants because the bulk of the money we realise is spent on fuel purchase. Aside from this, the NURTW has fixed the transport fare which we dare not go above. So, there is no chance of increase in transport fare and this has affected the quality of life we live as family men and as sociable persons.”
On the volume of palliatives from the state and local governments, he said the two-kilogram-bag palliative of rice, beans and yam flour was not commensurate with the economic hardship inflicted on Lagosians by the fuel subsidy removal.
He said: “The council chairman on the Island distributed 2kg of beans, rice and yam flour to some residents. I heard Governor Sanwo-Olu did the same, but considering the economic hardship caused by the fuel subsidy removal, how far can the palliatives go in lessening the pains of the masses?
“For me, before the palliative came in, I was contemplating how to buy foodstuffs for my son who has just gained admission into one of the northern universities. I had to pack everything in the house for him to go and resume while the rest of us sort ourselves out.
“But in all, what the government has done so far is not enough to address the hardship Lagosians are facing daily in the area of transportation and food price increase. As December draws near, I want to urge the government to open up the borders to allow importation of rice from Cotonou into the country since we don’t have sufficiency in rice production and food crisis is imminent.”
A trader in Ikotun, Akanbi, sells loaves of bread at the BRT bus station. He lamented low sales since fuel subsidy was removed.
He stated that: “I have no shop of my own to sell bread. I have always been on the road, but as the prices of bread increase, people no longer patronise us as they used to.
“The irony is, as the prices go up, the weight decreases. This implies that a family of four that fed on N1,000 worth of bread loaf can no longer feed on the same size of bread because it now sells for N1,200.
“Aside from this, we have to pay the agberos whether we make sales or not. Normally, I am not a trader, but I do afternoon shift selling loaves of bread at the bus stop. I only see an opportunity in selling loaves of bread because of the huge number of people living in Alimosho. So, I chose the bread sale business.
“Sales had been good until the fuel subsidy crisis. I enjoyed huge patronage from people closing from their various places of work and heading to their homes.”
A frozen foods seller, Mama Michelle, lamented a drop in her sales, a situation which she said had caused her turkeys, chickens and fish to go bad.
She said: “People no longer buy frozen food. They cannot afford to buy turkey because it now sells for N4,200 per kilogram while a chicken’s lap is N2,800 and beef, too. It is very expensive, but instead of buying this, many people go for dried fish. Even dried fish is not cheap, it is very expensive, too and this is causing these foods to rotten.”
“The removal of fuel subsidy has added to the economic adversity that is bringing untold hardship on the people. While parents complain they can’t afford to send their children to school again, private and public universities have increased their school fees.”
Mr Ayinde Omotayo shared his experience working as a storekeeper. He said: “We are rich in this country but due to corruption, there are setbacks.
“Before the new government, we could afford to buy petrol, but now he just had to warm his car if he was not going far away. We can’t give as much as before. We should give thanks to God because in spite all things, He provides our daily bread. What we can ask from the government is to reduce the price of petrol and construct good roads. They should also empower farmers.”
Another respondent, Mr Saheed said: “I am a driver. The economy of the country is bad. One cannot afford three square meals again. If you could afford one, you should give thanks. We don’t have money for contributions now; I can’t afford to pay my children’s school fees anymore.
“We are just hearing of palliatives, we don’t know if they exist. Fuel subsidy removal and hike in petrol price have impacted the country’s economy negatively. My advice for the government is that they should not drag us back instead of going forward.”
Mr Kazeem Salami said: “I am a businessman. This country is not going forward but backward. There is no change in the public sector. The government did not increase workers’ salaries despite removing fuel subsidy. We don’t understand where this government is going. We voted for them because we believed in them and if they can’t perform, they should resign.”
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