Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has urged young workers struggling with high rental costs to consider living with parents or relatives, or sharing accommodation, rather than committing themselves to housing they cannot comfortably afford.
Hamzat said young people, particularly those at the beginning of their careers, should make housing decisions based on their earnings and overall financial capacity.
He spoke on Thursday during a question-and-answer session with Nigeria Info FM while responding to concerns about how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a self-contained apartment or mini-flat that costs about N1m in annual rent.
The deputy governor said young Nigerians should not feel compelled to move into independent accommodation immediately after securing employment, especially when their income cannot support the cost.
“Don’t let us misunderstand ourselves as a people. We are cultural people. Do you understand? So, if I start work as a young person and I’m not married, a lot of us live with our parents. A lot of us live with our cousins,” Hamzat said.
He cited living arrangements in other countries, including Turkey, as an example of young people sharing accommodation or remaining with family members while establishing themselves financially.
Hamzat said there was nothing wrong with starting modestly and gradually upgrading one’s accommodation as income improves.
“So, if you don’t start from the top self-contained, you don’t start from the top. You start from the average depending on,” he said.
He also advised residents to avoid allocating an excessive portion of their earnings to rent, noting that workers still have other basic expenses to meet.
“In fact, if you spend more than 40 per cent of your income on rent, it is too high because you must eat, you must buy clothes, you must do transportation,” the deputy governor said.
Beyond rental affordability, Hamzat said the Lagos State Government was promoting mortgage financing as a way of helping residents achieve home ownership without having to make full payment upfront.
He said purchasing property through a single payment was beyond the reach of many Nigerians and explained that the state’s mortgage board was designed to provide financing options for residents who could demonstrate their ability to repay.
“But, you know, the challenge is we cannot continue to buy houses the way we buy rice and yam. Do you understand? So, we must buy properties using a mortgage, and that’s why we have a mortgage board in Lagos,” Hamzat said.
He explained that the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency, LASRRA, identification system could help establish residents’ identities, addresses and places of employment, which he said were useful in assessing applicants for mortgage financing.
“So, that’s why we said people must have LASRRA number, so we can know that, okay, you live in Lagos. This is where you live. This is your address. This is where you work. So that there is a credit bill that checks everything that says, okay, you can pay,” he said.
Using a N7m property in Bisedi as an example, Hamzat said a prospective buyer could make an initial payment of 10 per cent, amounting to N700,000, and spread the remaining balance over a 10-year period.
“So, if a flat in Bisedi, which is seven million naira, you pay 10 per cent with 700,000, and over 10 years, you are able to pay monthly,” he said.
He added that the amount paid monthly would depend on the buyer’s income and repayment capacity.
“Some people pay 25,000 monthly or 35,000, whatever it is, depending on your income,” Hamzat said.
According to him, mortgage financing would give residents an alternative to making a one-off payment for a property, which many prospective homeowners may be unable to afford.
“That is the way to go because we know that a lot of people will not be able to afford to pay a one-shot deal,” he said.
The deputy governor also encouraged young people to begin with affordable housing options while developing a culture of saving and gradually working towards owning property.
“But the bottom line is, like I said, the culture of ability to save, so that if people see that you can save money, then I can give you a property.
“It doesn’t have to be, if you are a young person, you can start with one bedroom or even a self-contained, like you explained,” he said.
Hamzat acknowledged, however, that housing affordability was closely tied to the wider economic situation and stressed the importance of improving residents’ earning power.
“What is important is we must also build our economy in such a way that people earn better, you understand, so that everybody can be uplifted, and that is the bottom line,” he said.
He added that addressing the rising cost of goods and services would also help residents manage their incomes and make more sustainable housing decisions.
“The cost of buying things is what we need to fix first, and then when we fix that, which is what the Federal Government is doing now, then we’ll be able to talk a lot more about other pillars that stop on top of that,” Hamzat said.
