News Room — Ajifa Solomon
JOS — When Sarah Angyu completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps for recent graduates, she decided to make her home in Jos, the Plateau state capital. It was an easy choice; the city has scenic beauty and an ever-cool climate. What she did not envision, however, was the nightmare that would result in seeking an apartment in the city.
“I thought it would be a walk in the park,” Sarah said. “It’s a beautiful city, and while opportunities are not so plentiful, you can’t help but love it.”
Sarah’s journey to finding a home started with referrals from friends about local real estate agents. She soon realised that the conditions of the advertised buildings were far from what she had seen in pictures. Each house she visited was either too dilapidated or unsuitable for a young individual like herself.
“The houses were in an impossibly terrible state. The cost of rehabilitation or remodelling was frightening. I mean, I’m moving into a new apartment,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to do the ‘dirty work’ for them.”
According to Sarah, on some occasions, “The agents told me to come to inspect several buildings, and for every visit, I was required to pay an inspection fee of ₦2000. It was maddening. I was just moving from one dilapidated house to the other.”
“Sometimes, upon inspection, you’d discover that the houses are not even vacant, but the realtor would say I should wait with the assurance that the occupants will be moving out in a month,” she added.
After weeks of searching, Sarah eventually settled for a small, overpriced apartment in Kufang, a suburb of Jos metropolis, but her ordeal was far from over.
“The place I got was terrible. My compound mates told me they could only have access to water during the rainy season because the borehole was not dug deep enough into the water bed, so there would be no water during the dry season. The area was very rocky, and there were no boreholes or wells anywhere,” she recounted.
Sarah’s new home bore the resemblance of a sick joke. The paint had peeled from the walls, exposing rough sand and cement patches. Tiles were missing, the roof was damaged, and the toilet was in terrible condition. Though the realtor had promised to have it all fixed before her relocation, his word was just as fragile as the house.
“When I paid for the house, the caretaker assured me that he would fix it before I moved it. I kept calling him, but he refused to pick up his call. Even the POP ceiling was almost falling off, ” Sarah added.
Another resident told JoeyOffAir that he had spent about ₦300,000 fixing a two-bedroom flat he rented.
The price for these dilapidated houses runs into hundreds of thousands. Pison Housing Company says about 80% of Nigeria’s 200 million population live in rented accommodation, doling out about half of their income on house rent.
“Why do I have to save up my salary for about five months before I can afford the house rent?” she queries.
According to PiggyVest, a wealth management startup, spending more than 30% of your annual income on rent is not advisable. “Your total housing costs shouldn’t exceed three months’ income — regardless of how much you earn. This way, you can easily pay your rent and have enough money for savings and other expenses,” the startup advised.
This resonates deeply with Sarah and millions of other Nigerians. “When you compare the earnings and the rent price in Jos, you find it is crazy expensive. Jos does not have high-paying jobs. And people have to save up for a long time to afford a year’s rent. It’s really sad.”
Like many rapidly growing cities in Nigeria, Jos has experienced a significant population surge in recent years. It has become one of the few cities outside Lagos and Abuja that are attracting remote tech workers seeking relocation.
Nigeria’s population is projected to reach 400 million by 2050, making it the third most populous country in the world, after India and China. However, the country faces a severe housing shortage, with a current deficit of 28 million units. Addressing this shortfall would require an estimated ₦21 trillion, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable housing solutions for the growing population.
“There is a shortage of self-contained flats in Jos. I am single, and I stay alone. What do I need a bedroom and parlour for? Why are there no self-contained houses?” she said.
While self-contained houses are typical around the University of Jos, they seem to be increasingly scarce in areas where working-class residents live.
Elvis Henry, the convener of the Jos Food Festival, recently queried this phenomenon:
“Real estate developers are missing a huge opportunity: housing for young people, not just families. Stop remodelling homes with outrageous price tags. Shift your focus to what the market actually needs – affordable options for the younger generation. Keep ignoring this, and you’re setting up the housing market for a major crisis. Time to rethink your strategies before it’s too late,” he stated.
“When you see a vacant house, it doesn’t take up to a week before someone occupies it. No matter how bad the situation of the house is, people take it because houses are very scarce,” Sarah explains.
Her experience is isolated. Many young people in Jos face the same challenges, caught between unaffordable homes and apartments that are either overpriced or dilapidated and unfit for habitation.
Given that Nigeria’s last census was conducted in 2006, the lack of data to guide housing policy across the nation is no surprise. The challenges of accessing a decent and affordable home are not native to Nigeria. All across the globe, there is a noticeable spike in the shortage of homes. UN-Habitat says that if 96,000 houses are not built daily, three billion people will be left without adequate housing by 2030.
With plummeting income, a growing population and high inflation, the housing crisis is fast becoming a bubbling stewpot.
Elijah Tion, CEO of Jos-based real estate company Elition Finger Link Property, attributes the housing shortage to several factors. “There is a noticeable increase in the number of people coming to Jos. This population further places a strain on the little available resources. Also, the cost of building materials has slowed the construction of houses, placing more demand on the existing houses.”
Elijah revealed that over a hundred clients were on waiting lists until the next property became available. He also pointed to the growing influence of cyber criminals, or ‘yahoo boys,’ as a major driver behind the soaring rent prices.
“You see these yahoo boys, they can pay for any house. Once a landlord gives a price, they will pay it. They’ll pay if you tell them a two-bedroom flat is ₦2.5 million or more. So, the landlord will hike the price more and more. An average worker cannot raise these amounts so that it will become a problem later,” he explained.
The impact of inflated rent prices due to the lavish spending of internet fraudsters isn’t limited to Jos. Across the country, Nigerians have expressed concern over how the activities of these criminals are pushing housing costs through the roof.
In 2022, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), warned that landlords could face up to 15 years in prison for renting properties to internet fraudsters.
However, the move was widely criticised, with many arguing that it’s unrealistic for landlords to verify every tenant’s background thoroughly.
Regulating Housing in Jos.
Addressing concerns about inspection fees, Mr Tion explained that they were introduced to reduce time wasted on non-serious clients during house viewings.
“It is because of the experiences we’ve had. You will take people to visit several houses, and they will not rent any. When you begin to charge at the inspection phase, you’ll know who is serious about renting a house.”
These inspection fees usually range from ₦2,000 to ₦5,000. He added that there was a plan in motion to establish a formal body to regulate the activities of realtors in Jos.
“We are working on registering a body that will regulate the activities of realtors in Jos. We have a body, but it’s not registered, so when we register it, we will be able to enforce some of the laws that will be put in place to guide realtors,” he stated.
What is the Government Doing?
In May, the Plateau state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, recently allocated over 100 hectares of land to the Federal Housing Authority to construct smart housing units.
The houses, however, are targeted at civil servants and still leave private workers without housing options. Previous housing policies have failed due to an ambiguous framework, which made it difficult for the authorities in Jos to implement them. The ambiguities arose because of a lack of policy enforcement mechanisms, political commitment, and a poor local organisation and coordination framework.
Mr Tion is confident that the deficit will be addressed in the foreseeable future. “We are getting across to people and telling them there is a market here. Because of that, many people are buying and developing. In the long run, the housing deficit will be addressed,” he added.
