FIJ
Lagos State is the largest economy in Nigeria, it has been for decades. Lagos is also one of the smallest regions in Nigeria by landmass. The state still has a housing deficit of 3 million units. Why are the housing options from Lagos State Government less of a solution? Why does the state government resort to a more expensive private-styled housing philosophy? How are the residents in and out of the Lagos housing schemes paying for this? FIJ’s Joseph Adeiye reports.
IGANDO, Lagos — Four eyes intently watched the half-open black gate of Lateef Kayode Jakande Garden Estate as this reporter approached on a late July afternoon. Two different voices had already called “Hello” and “Where do you want to go to?”.
No one could just walk into a Lagos housing estate uninvited, I soon found out. The men at the gate made it clear that even a journalist wouldn’t receive access except if they lived in LKJ Gardens or an occupant invited them in.
This reporter eventually crossed the black gate on an occupant’s invitation about a week later.
LKJ Gardens’ brick-layered roads were the same as the 100-metre perimeter on the other side of the gate. There were more cars parked by the roadside and more people walking than there were cars driving to and fro.
The residents I met in this housing estate called themselves the chosen few in a state battling a silent housing crisis. Lagos State has not met even 50 percent of its residents’ housing demands. Though private property companies and informal building contractors contribute their quotas, the state still has a housing deficit of about 3 million units.
Speaking with residents of Lagos housing estates, FIJ has found that the state government’s efforts to reduce the housing deficit in the past 20 years have not been enough. Mortgage plans are still far out of the reach of most of its residents, affordable housing is not affordable, and the state fails to develop cost-effective housing options.
Those identical structures seen from a distance became real living quarters and proved the type of housing and the type of people who could afford to live there were limited.
This is Lagos, a state where 500,000 people immigrate annually and contribute to a growing multimillion housing demand met by a few thousand housing units in supply every year. Middlemen in state government agencies are exploiting the unhealthy demand-supply ratio to make money off potential buyers of Lagos housing estate units.
The state government has not cared enough, and it has decided to stick with the same strategy for the next years of housing hell.
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