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The astronomical rise in accommodation cost/ house rent in major cities in Nigeria is causing nightmares to tenants. It is a tall order for minimum wage earners and others to meet up with yearly or monthly house rent.
In this report, some Nigerians suggested what the government should do to bring down the cost of house rents.
Govt should reduce taxes on building materials – Joshua Chorbe, humanitarian worker; Makurdi
If we want housing to be affordable, we have to tackle what’s driving the cost up in the first place. Right now, building materials are expensive, partly because of high taxes and import duties, and developers often pass that cost directly to tenants through higher rent. The government can step in by cutting those taxes and making materials cheaper to source.
There’s also the issue of rent hikes during inflation. Some landlords increase prices even when nothing about the property has changed, just because they could. That’s where fair rent regulations come in to set limits and stop people from taking advantage of tough times.
On top of that, we need more low-cost housing projects that allow deductions directly from salaries in small amounts. That way, home payments feel manageable instead of overwhelming. It would take a real weight off most people.
And here’s the honest part. The government isn’t some separate group; it’s all of us. If we want things to improve, we all have a role to play. But, we also need laws that protect tenants from arbitrary charges based on how wealthy a landlord thinks they look. That’s where government oversight should come in.
Govt should massively construct low cost houses – Mrs. Charity Ogaba, civil servant; Makurdi
The government should construct mass housing estates; low cost houses, not just for civil servants but for citizens and makes it owner-occupier so that people can be allocated and be given a period of time to pay up. In the four-year tenure of a particular government, it can build like, 10,000, housing unit and in another four years, you build another 10,000.
For civil servants, they can gradually deduct it minimally from their salaries, and for private individuals, you give them a long term repayment plan to ease payments. If the government can do this, it can practically reduce the high cost of rents in the country.
Govt should embark on low cost housing scheme – Felix Ikpotor, journalist; Port Harcourt
This is a teething problem that requires immediate attention from the government.
In the first place, the government should embark on low cost housing scheme and ensure that the houses when built are not hijacked by politicians and those in government.
Secondly, government must regulate rents in urban cities, especially in Port Harcourt and Obio Akpor Local Government areas of Rivers State. They should engage with all landlords and ensure rents are fixed according to the standards of the houses because most landlords now charge high rents on very old buildings.
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria must be reformed, recapitalised – Rev. Emmanuel Olorunmagba, cleric; Kaduna
The spiralling cost of accommodation across our major cities is not just an economic concern; it is a social emergency. For millions of Nigerians, especially minimum wage earners, the simple dignity of having a roof over one’s head is fast becoming a luxury. This is unacceptable in a country of our potential.
As patriotic Nigerians, who want our dear country to work, we must be clear on this issue that – this crisis is the direct result of policy failures, weak regulation, and a lack of political will previous administrations and the current administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Housing is not a privilege; it is a fundamental need, and any government that cannot guarantee access to affordable shelter is failing its people.
To reverse this dangerous trend, government must act decisively on several fronts. In the first place, there must be an aggressive expansion of affordable housing through public-private partnerships. The government should incentivize developers with tax breaks, access to low-interest financing, and land grants, on the condition that a significant portion of new developments are reserved for low and middle income earners.
Secondly, rent regulation policies must be introduced and enforced. While we recognise the importance of a free market, the current situation borders on exploitation. Caps on arbitrary rent increases, along with standardised tenancy agreements will help protect tenants from sudden and unreasonable hikes.
Thirdly, we must address the structural drivers of high construction costs. The over reliance on imported building materials, exacerbated by foreign exchange instability has made housing development prohibitively expensive. A serious government would invest in local production of building materials and support innovation in alternative, cost-effective construction methods.
Fourthly, access to mortgage financing must be democratised. Institutions like the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria must be reformed and recapitalised to provide long term, low interest loans that ordinary Nigerians can actually access, not just a privileged few.
Finally, urban planning cannot continue to be an afterthought. State governments, particularly in high-pressure cities, must open up new areas through infrastructure development – roads, transportation, and utilities so that housing demand is not suffocating a few urban centres. This is not an impossible problem. It requires leadership, urgency, and empathy. Nigerians are not asking for miracles, they are asking for a government that understands their struggles and is willing to act. Until then, the opposition will continue to speak up and push for policies that put people before politics.
Govt should enforce rent control across the country – Emmanuel Ebong, graphic designer; Kaduna
Government should embark on mass social housing through Federal Mortgage Bank (FMBN); Family Homes Fund, and state governments need to build and release low cost units yearly to the people.
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Government should fix the landlord/tenant legal relationship and enforce rent control all over the country. Government should cut building costs so that new houses will be cheaper through slashing of duties on building materials like cement, rods, tiles, taking off 40-60 per cent cost.
Government should also remove import duties and decentralise development to avoid concentration in a particular state or environment. However, the hard truth is that no policy works without enforcement, government has to enforce rent control across the country.
Govt should prioritise, invest in housing estates -Festus Oriasotie, realtor; Benin
The reason house rents are very high in Nigeria, is because of the cost of building materials. They are very high.
You see, somebody will engage in a building project now and at the end of the day, he gets to a point and he is stuck; he can’t proceed because of the exorbitant price of buying building materials.
What the government should do in a working system is to prioritise the welfare of its people, make the salaries of its workers very attractive. When workers are being taken good care of by the government, at least some of these things we are talking about can easily be taken care of by them.
Secondly, the government should push money into housing, invest more in housing. Government can acquire a vast land or good number of hectares of lands, then build about 1,000 units of three-bedroom bungalows with a parking space for about one or two, thereafter, allocate these buildings to its workers at a subsidised rate while the deduction could be monthly or annually.
This can help cushion the adverse effect of this high rate of house rent on its citizens.
Govt should provide more housing units – Jeffrey Imomion, politician, Benin
Cost of house rent is becoming something else in Nigeria. Well, I would not blame the owners of these properties because as we speak now, the astronomical increase in goods and services also make the owners of these properties want to increase their rent so that they can also meet up. This is because if you look at it, the owners of these properties, most times, they depend on these properties to survive. That’s the reason they put these properties on ground. It’s like a retirement benefits for them.
The way out is for the government to make provision for more housing units, and at a subsidised rate and let the citizens begin to pay little by little, as it is done in the developed world.
Govt should build low cost housing estates – Ebikebuna Augustine Aluzu, lawyer; Yenagoa
It will be nearly impossible for the government to reduce the high cost of rent. However, the government can compete in the market by building low cost housing estates, since the cost of building materials are determined by factors beyond the government control.
Govt should rapidly build houses and allocate to Nigerians via mortgages – Sam Dogitimi, media practitioner; Yenagoa
The constant increase in house rents across Nigeria is becoming a menace; one that should concern government at all levels. It is sad that house owners would just increase rents within a year of moving in, sometimes over 50 per cent.
The high cost is having a heavy toll on Nigerians – rich, middle-class and the poor, as well.
There should be an effective framework that would deter landlords from the indiscriminate increment. Authorities should be able to have a kind of benchmark so that landlords and landladies would not give us costs that are beyond our income. Defaulters should be made to face the law so that the wicked increment would be discouraged.
More so, it is time for governments to rapidly build houses and allocate to Nigerians via mortgages.
This would make people to own their own houses and not to be at the mercy of wicked private property owners.
Govt should bring down high cost of building materials, especially cement – Emmanuel Chinemerem, student; Aba
The astronomical rise in house rent in recent times has not only affected minimum wage earners. Even those you may think are rich, everybody is bearing the pains, although it is biting harder on the poor and nobody is doing anything about it as usual. Landlords have given reasons, including high cost of building materials and the general inflation in the country for such high increase in house rent. Government should therefore ensure the high cost of building materials especially cement is brought down.
Federal, state governments should embark on building low cost houses – Chief Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, journalist, Aba
It is quite unfortunate that house rent is very high in the country, contrary to what it used to be. In most cases, rent for houses that are believed should be for low income earners, is now higher than the minimum wage, making it difficult for an average low income worker to find accommodation within the range of his monthly salary.
I know that some states enact rent control laws, but how effective it is implemented calls for questioning. The law should be implemented to save tenants from the clutches of shylock landlords.
Again, both the federal and state governments should embark on building of houses, particularly low cost houses to ensure affordable accommodation for minimum wage earners.
