No sweet home for some Nigerians

Homelessness and high cost of accommodation are salient issues ravaging the country. ADEOLA OTEMADE speaks with people and experts on the factors responsible and the way out for the poor masses.

The intense heat didn’t stop Saidat (not her real name) from chasing after cars and commercial buses to sell sachet water. She pushed past passing vehicles while a toddler was strapped to her back and another running behind her.

Moments later, she went to sit down on the pavement where most beggars sit at the popular Mokola roundabout, in Ibadan, with her two children. The bag of sachet water she was selling stood at her feet; beside her was also a ragged Ghana-Must-Go bag, and nothing more. She brought down the child strapped to her back to suckle while the other child watched.

Looking tired, sorrowful, and devoid of hope, the 33-year-old woman narrated the ordeal of how she became homeless when approached by Sunday Tribune.  According to her, she was forced to leave her rented accommodation because she could no longer afford to pay. Her husband (now deceased ) was a cobbler, while she used to sell petty stuffs besides their rented apartment.

Her husband, she told Sunday Tribune, died in 2018 after a brief illness. “I was left with my two children,” Saidat recalled. “While he was alive, we both catered for them with the little we earned. We used to live down the road in one of those houses to your right (pointing to a particular building close to a filling station).

“After my husband’s death, the Landlord asked us to leave, telling us that he had sold the house. My house rent was N2,000 per month making N24,000 yearly. I couldn’t pay the rent for three years as my petty trade wasn’t getting anywhere. When I couldn’t pay, the landlord came up with the excuse of that he had sold the house, which I knew was not true.

“I thought of renting another place, but the house rent was too high. My extended family members do not stay in Ibadan, and I don’t want to go back home. I was advised by some people to stay underneath the bridge for some time till I can gather some money to rent a proper place. So I decided to seek refuge underneath the bridge here; I packed a few of my stuffs and I came here with my children. We started staying underneath the bridge since last year December. I have met some people here also that come to sleep at night and leave in the morning to seek their daily bread,” she narrated.

Olorunfemi Olugbenga, a store keeper at an electronic company, unlike Saidat, is lucky. He has his elder brother as his saving grace. According to him, he would have become homeless, as he has been out of a job for three years.

“I am in my mid-thirties and still live with my brother, but if it were not for my older brother asking me to stay with him, I might not be here today. I was without a job for three years before I just found one. Because of the state of the nation, I am unable to make the bold choice that a guy my age should have a place of his own and be settled by now.

“When I got my present job recently, I tried to rent a place for myself, but I couldn’t. House rents are now on the high side; to even rent a room now is something else. The houses that I saw have old toilets and bathrooms. To opt for houses around Oluyole, Bodija Estate, Akala Estate and the like with a low-income salary is a fool’s dream.

“Most of the time, I ponder the number of people who are homeless due to their inability to afford a place to live. The government of Nigeria appears to be ignoring the serious problem of homelessness, and it is critical to close the wealth and poverty divide,” he lamented.

Both Saidat and Olugbenga are just two out of numerous Nigerians who face accommodation problem in the country amidst low income, socio-economic issues and insecurity.

With an urbanisation rate of 4.78 per cent, Nigeria has the biggest housing deficit in Africa, totalling 17 million units, according to a study carried out by the Federal Ministry of Housing. In the report, it was stated that poor living circumstances exist as roughly 85 per  cent of urban residents live in single rooms, frequently with eight to twelve people per room.  Only approximately 27 per cent of urban residents have access to pipe-borne water in 1996. In 2021, the report further stated, only 10 per cent of urban residents had indoor toilets, and little has improved since then.

Stagnant economy, rising cost of living

A landlord who spoke with Sunday Tribune on the condition of anonymity claimed that because inflation has affected every sector of the economy, more people are facing the possibility of becoming homeless as they could not continue to pay for their current places of residence, neither are they able to finance their own homes.

According to him, inflation has had an impact on every sector of the economy and has contributed to Nigeria’s current housing issue as seen by the increase in the cost of labour as well as construction consumables like cement and blocks. He noted further that a decent and affordable accommodation is becoming increasingly out of reach for the average Nigerian.

“I have met people that come to meet me and beg me to allow them to sleep outside my gates for the night and I allow them. The current situation of the country is forcing people to take refuge in the street; the basic salary people are earning can no longer take care of their needs.

“On the other hand, we can also say for a fact that these Yahoo boys (scammers) have contributed to the current situation of expensive accommodation in the country. They settle for expensive houses, and this has led to the rise in cost of accommodation, placing everyone in the difficult situation of being unable to find affordable houses. We are all in need of money, so when we come across people that are willing to pay well, we give out our apartments to them.

“I deal with people, so I can say categorically that it is true. You tell a young guy to pay N600,000 for a three-bedroom flat and he pays without flinching. You ask what he does for a living, and he tells you he is into online trading. There are limits to how you can probe into people’s lives. While some people can afford a house at any given cost, some people cannot,” he rationalised.

In his own response, Olalekan Olusoga, Executive Manager of Rebcon75 Properties, highlighted that though accommodation deficit is not a new concern, the worrying situation is that it is rising exponentially and a solution does not appear to be in sight.

“This is not a new phenomenon; it is just unfortunate that there is no way to stop it from escalating exponentially. The housing structures in some cities do not take into account the population expansion, and the government does not offer its inhabitants any option for affordable housing. The cost of construction materials is too high for the average person to consider doing it themselves. The circumstances that have led to increase in accommodations are still a result of unplanned growth and development.

“If you take a good survey, this is common mostly in urban areas where everybody is willing to stay and the more people lobby to get a space, the higher the money for the bidders. Recent cost of housing materials, high demand for luxury apartments, cost of renovations, individual/investor/ownership interest, government not providing low-cost housing schemes unlike before, population growth of housing consumption age bracket and so on, are the factors responsible for the increase in high cost of accommodation,” Olusoga explained.

Also speaking on the accommodation challenge, Peacemark Okereke, Executive Manager, Toposyi Realtor’s, explained that it is unreasonable for anyone to ignore the fundamental issues impacting accommodation which include population increase, a housing shortage, inflation and terrorism, saying no one should turn a blind eye to these fundamental factors. For instance, he noted “there is inflation on virtually everything: building materials, importation, services, and so on. This is not only about real estate, it cuts across other businesses,” he said, underlining Nigeria’s ever rising population as a constant variable.

“Nigeria currently has a population of over 200 million people and is struggling with a severe housing shortage. Since most real estate businesses currently belong to private individuals, they must earn profit from their ventures. Nobody wants to run a business at a loss, hence the need to be mindful of costs. Just like every other business, you put everything involved either in the process of production or construction. I must tell you that this issue will not go away overnight if proper measures are not put in place,” he expatiated.

Building a dysfunctional urban society

Accommodation issue is not just a Nigeria thing, but a critical global problem as well, says Efe Chesterfield, who is a writer and a social commentator. According to him, the issue of homelessness and accommodation indicates gross social malfunction in the country. He added that private and public industrial expansion has been mismanaged by the government.

“Apart from hunger crises, marine ecosystem deterioration, and a host of others, homelessness is also a critical global problem (not just in Nigeria). While this issue indicates gross social malfunction in a country, some countries have failed more woefully than others, and Nigeria is not an exemption.

“While private and public industrial expansion is mismanaged by the government, it would seem that the rich can get away with their agenda of securing more land for their personal benefits, not considering the homeless. An undermanaged regulation of land acquisition and estates more often than not leaves the vulnerable and poor to suffer the gruesome consequences. And it would seem as well that their misfortune is their own business. But this thoughtlessness contributes to the displacement of the poor into slums, under bridges and underserviced accommodation which in turn birth more insecurity, diseases and death.

“The insane increase in accommodation charges and rent is obviously a ploy to drive the poor from urban areas as a means of separating them from the rich. This inhumane and inconsiderate act then leaves some of the vulnerable no choice but to live under the bridges from where they go to work to make a living. They are in every city, except you’re not looking. It is deplorable indeed. Children who are born into these harsh conditions already have a trying future ahead of them — if they have a future at all. Their health is quickly compromised, their education circumvented and a dearth of any sense of societal belonging becomes their portion. Even those of the working class are struggling to meet up with their rents and not finding the deteriorating economy funny.”

A sociologist, Qudus Okufuwa said the bane of the problem lies in the overpopulation that is eating deep into the system of Nigeria and which urbanisation contributes largely to.

“Homelessness isn’t a problem in the entire Nigeria. It is a problem of select urban areas where there is overpopulation.

“In the rural areas, people don’t have housing problems. One way or another everyone has a roof over his/her head either by squatting with friends or joining up with extended families and living in family houses. I know a few  people that live in family houses because they couldn’t afford their own personal houses.

“Homelessness is peculiar to urban areas where the population is more than the housing available. In urban areas, there is so much overpopulation/population explosion to the extent that  available houses cannot accommodate all the people. And aside that, because of economic hardship, people keep moving to the cities though there is no provision for their accommodation.

“High rent is another issue. People cannot afford to pay the high rent [in the cities] because of the economy. There is also no easy access between houses and workplace. For instance, somebody working in Lagos Island might be forced to live on the mainland because there is no access (fast transportation),” Okufuwa explained.

Solving the urban housing deficit problem

According to Okereke, the only way out is for government to tackle the roots of inflation, and only then can life becomes better for all.

“The government needs to tackle the roots of inflation, whatever the cause may be, a self-sustaining economic vicious cycle exists. If inflation continues, consumer confidence and spending will continue to decrease, unemployment continues to rise, and economic circumstances will become much worse. After inflation is dealt with, we can now talk of policies to curb the excesses of those who are in the habit of thriving in a rotten system. Let’s deal with the problem first, then the fruits of it,” he said.

Olusoga in his submission opined that government needs to do more, accusing it of neglecting the housing sector owing to the conflicted interest of its officials many of whom are into real estates, thereby neglecting the needs of the people.

“Well, the solution has been what they neglected. The government needs to make provisions for low-cost housing estates in major and necessary areas of the country and subsidise building materials for the housing sectors to do more. They should improve and also work on housing loans/grants to cover low-income earners. They should also regulate the types of housing structures in some areas to enhance mass accommodation; regulate the housing laws for both private and public housing investors and also encourage the increase of local manufacturers of housing materials and the level of tasks.”

Chesterfield is of the opinion that protecting the homeless is both a crucial and moral issue, arguing that neglecting them will simply prolong the period of servitude and economic decline.

“Whether we like it or not, the vulnerable and homeless are amongst us and it is our civil duty to protect them. To turn a blind eye to them is to lengthen the years of economic stagnation, as every single human, if empowered, can contribute immensely to the society. If we rob them of their housing, their health and education, our future will grow bleak as we would be incapacitated to work for our own selves.

“The government must prioritise housing projects, not just for campaign purposes, but for humanistic, economic and global purposes. A nation that must thrive must see to it that the poor among its population are adequately addressed and empowered to contribute to the society. As common citizens, we must impress it upon stakeholders to do their bits. We can contribute to NGOs and encourage them to liaise seamlessly with the government to bridge the gap between homelessness and the access to necessary infrastructure,” he said.