Business
Lagos Resident Slams Sanwo-Olu Govt Over Housing Crisis, Soaring Prices
By Afesojaye Adeyinka
A Lagos mainland resident, Abayomi Israel, has described Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as a “noble man” but weak on the issues that matter most to Lagosians, particularly housing and price regulation.
Speaking in an interview in Maryland, Lagos, Israel, who described himself as a “field man” and a real estate practitioner, said the absence of checks and balances in the market has left residents at the mercy of arbitrary pricing.
“I’m always out there. I buy petty things from Iyaloja, from market women. So I can say that there’s no price checks. I won’t say price control. Checks,” he said.
He recalled when government officials visited markets on Saturdays to compare prices of foodstuffs like garri across different markets, a practice he said kept traders honest.
“Imagine going to three, four markets now. This one gives you N1,000, this one gives you N900, another gives you N950. You know that anywhere in Lagos, anyone that says N1,100 wants to cheat you. But here now, you buy garri here N1,000, take two steps away, you buy it N2,000,” he said.
“Everybody’s doing what he likes. That is why I think Sanwo-Olu’s government is weak, and too relaxed. To me, his attitude, he just wants to take a bow, he just wants to go out. The housing is killing.”
Asked what was responsible for the perceived weakness, Israel blamed both the system and the people.
“You and I too could be the problem. And the system, that’s the governance. The insiders in government circle could be a problem to the Governor too. And we outside too, we are a problem. There are wicked people out there as there are wicked people in the inner caucus, in the governance cycle.”
He lamented the cost of rent in central Lagos, saying a single room self-contained apartment measuring about four by six feet now goes for as high as N2 million, while some areas charge up to N3 million.
“Imagine renting a room self-contained, a room, bathroom and kitchen, for two million naira,” he said.
“I’m into properties. Those kind of things, you don’t bring it to my table, I won’t work on it. I don’t attend to it. It’s so sad.”
Israel warned that the high cost of housing was pushing young people into crime and fraud.
“Imagine a fresh graduate in Nigeria now, in Lagos, how much would a fresh graduate earn, maximum N200,000? When is he going to rent a house for himself to live in? I don’t see how such a person will not do shortcuts in the office, or won’t steal, or do fraud? When is such a person going to be able to start life as a man or start thinking of building a family?”
On the way forward, Israel, who said he was born and bred in Lagos and has lived in five to six areas of the state, advised the Lagos State Government to build strong institutions rather than build houses to sell.
“They should build, create a strong institution for all the sectors, housing sector. I don’t ask them to go and build houses. Building houses is old fashioned for Nigeria of today, and that person they will put there is a criminal, the people that will come and buy it are criminals,” he said.
“Instead, create an institution with sane people, with at least godly people, people that have conscience. They can go to some places and pick them out.”
He suggested the government should consult respected religious leaders in the state to help identify credible people to run such institutions.
“Talk to people like our father in the Lord, Pastor Daniel Olukoya, like the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. Talk to Bishop David Oyedepo. Give us standard people. Build something up, an institution that will be checking houses.”
Israel insisted that existing housing laws in Lagos are not effective.
“100 over 100, it is not. I’m into real estate. I know what is happening. I know what my colleagues are doing. But I can’t be part of it. I’ll do what is tenable, what is legit, what is good for people.”
“There must be an institution that will put measure on everything,” he added.