Mega-City, Mega-Problem: How Rising Cost Of Housing Is Tearing Families Apart In Lagos

“I see my son every day, but he does not see me until weekends. This is because he is always asleep by the time I get home, and I am usually out of the house before he wakes up.” That was Jeremiah Ukor, a 42-year-old security guard lamenting how the high cost of living in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is denying him family time.

Lagos is Nigeria’s smallest city with a size of 3,345 square kilometres but it is the country’s most populated city with an estimated population of 15 million people, according to the BBC. A report by World Population Review says Lagos’ annual growth rate is about 3.54 per cent, that is, 123,000 people arrive in Lagos every day, most of whom are in search of greener pastures.

As the number of residents rises, so are rents going astronomical, which is now pushing many residents far away from the city centre and suburbs to the hinterlands.

Jeremiah, who works as a security guard with a bank at Victoria Island, lives in Ayobo, a Lagos suburb in the Alimosho local government area, and travels 41 kilometres daily to get to his workplace at Victoria Island.

In 2017 when he joined a private security outfit that recruits security guards for corporate organisations, Jeremiah, was deployed to a bank in Yaba where he worked for three years before he was transferred to the Island in 2021 after his salary was raised from ₦50,000 to ₦65,000.

“The promotion and the salary raise, which was supposed to be a good thing, turned out to be a bad situation as my transfer to VI happened during the same period that my one-room rent was raised from ₦60,000 per year to ₦95,000. It would not have been a very big problem if my transport fare too did not automatically go up with the longer distance,” he told Neusroom.

A one-room tenement apartment in Yaba rents for N120,000 per year, in Ikeja, Anthony, Maryland and Gbagada, it rents for N100,000, in Ogba, Agege, Ojodu, it rents for N90,000. When you move further to Abule-Egba, Egbeda, Ikotun, Idumu, it rents for N80,000. But in areas like Ayobo, Kola, Meiran, Ikorodu, it rents for N70,000.

Jeremiah said he had to make a decision. Housing in Ogba, where he lived, was rising, and so he moved his family of two to Ipaja-Ayobo. This Lagos suburb is a border community between Lagos and Ayetoro in Ogun state. A room and parlour apartment in Ayobo rents for ₦60,000. In exchange, Jeremiah spends less time with his family and more time on the road as he has to leave home by 5 am if he wants to be at work by 7 am. It’s a trip he said he wishes he does not have to make every day.

“I have tried to get redeployed to the mainland, but I have been told to be patient. For a year, it has been the same. If I had my way, I would love to be living next to my workplace, so I can spend time with my family before they sleep and say goodbye to them in the morning before leaving for work.”

With a one-bedroom apartment in Victoria Island going for ₦2 million, Jeremiah will have to pay the equivalence of his two and a half year salary for an apartment in the highbrow area of Lagos.

Jeremiah is not alone. He is just one of the thousands of Lagos residents who have been forced out of the city centre due to the high cost of housing while they spend more than two hours daily travelling to work on the Island and other parts of the city centre.

The Island

On the morning of a regular weekday, traffic builds around the Oworonshoki area connecting to the Third Mainland Bridge with an average of  117,000 vehicular movements daily as thousands of Lagosians on the mainland make the daily trip to their workplace on The Island, a name that has become synonymous with the affluent and most expensive real estate in Lagos. 

Victoria Island was originally a true island as the Atlantic Ocean bordered it on the south, the mouth of the Lagos Lagoon on the West, the Five Cowrie Creek to the North, and swamps on the East. The colonial government sand-filled the swamps to reduce the mosquito breeding areas, thereby creating a land bridge to the Lekki Peninsula.

Some 30,000 original inhabitants of Victoria Island were moved to Maroko Town to give way to the rapid development of the upscale residential development in the former colonial residence. Due to this, Maroko attracted work migrants as many trooped to live there due to its cheap housing and proximity to Victoria Island. In July 1990, the military government of Raji Rasaki ordered Maroko residents to vacate the area. This was followed by a forceful eviction of 300,000 residents by armed policemen. The reclaimed Maroko land was expanded and developed and is now connected to Lekki Peninsula. With many companies having offices in the district to cater to the wealthy, the real estate market in the area has gone up.

Mega cost of housing

The average cost of a three-bedroom apartment on Victoria Island is ₦10m, with some apartments going as high as ₦16m in the Banana Island area. The lease for business properties is even higher. 

Adedeji Olaniyi, a real estate agent who sells and rents out properties in Ikoyi, told Neusroom that prices go up every year, but there is no fear about finding a market for them.

“We cater only for the rich. Last year, a residential apartment I helped sell for ₦120m was remodelled as office spaces and resold this year for close to ₦200m. I can assure you that next year, the price will go up.

“A property can remain unsold or unrented for two years, but it is better to leave it empty than undervalue it because the price increases annually. It is also easier to up the price for a new buyer or tenant than for someone already occupying the property. That is why you will always see empty buildings, but the money will be recouped.”

For the majority of those who work in these districts, living there is out of the question. The inflow and outflow of traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge reflect the movement of the large workforce that serve these highbrow areas. Many live in Ikeja, Ketu, Ikorodu, Isheri, Oworonshoki, Gbagada, Yaba, Maryland and Oshodi, and some even live in the fringe areas of Berger, Ayobo, Oke Aro and Agbado Toll Gate that are closer to Ogun state than where they work. 

Sarafina Maduka, who works as a chef in a hotel at Lekki Phase 1, said she lived in a staff quarters close to the hotel in the past, but that changed during the pandemic.

“I stay at the staff quarters and only go home when I am off,” Maduka said. “Although three people were allotted a room, it was better than coming from Oshodi every day to work.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the hotel was temporarily closed until November 2021, when she was called back. By then, the staff quarters were gone.

“The building was sold, so I go to work from home every day. Female staff do not do night shifts, so I go to work every morning,” she said. “The stress is unbearable, but I can do nothing about it. Getting a job is not easy. If not, I would have looked for another job on the mainland.”

With an average daily vehicular traffic of 117,000, the Third Mainland Bridge is the busiest road in Nigeria, and there is a reason for this. Many of those who use this road live in different parts of the mainland and rely on it to get to their workplace on The Island. However, living on the Island is not in consideration as the housing market continues to skyrocket. 

For some, one of the ways of managing the high cost of housing on the island is to go for two or three-bedroom apartments that have been converted into single tenements. This was what Agnes Amadi did in 2018 when she came to Lagos for her mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme and was posted to an engineering firm in Ikoyi.

“Someone told me at the CDS that a four-bedroom apartment was available in a complex in VI for N2 million and that she and three other girls were ready to take it. The engineering firm paid me well as a corp member, so I agreed to take a room in the apartment as my aunt’s place in Ikorodu was too far. Each of us used a bedroom, but we all had access to the living room and kitchen. It was a good arrangement, and commuting to work daily was easy.

After her NYSC, she was retained in the company, and her salary increased. By 2021 however, the rent had risen to N6 million, with each person required to pay N1.5 million. That was when she came to the admission that she could not continue to live there or anywhere on the island for that matter.

“I found a place in Ajah. It is well within my budget and more spacious, but it is far. Someone told me it’s only a matter of time before they catch the bug, too, and I would either have to pay high or move.”

The first half of 2021 recorded a high increase in property sales and rent in Lagos, attributed to the work-from-home system in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report, “the increase in prices can be attributed to the all-time high price of land in prime locations on the Lagos Island (particularly in gated communities like Banana Island, Shoreline Estate, Cowrie Creek, and Pinnock Beach Estate).”

Transportation problem

Perhaps not living on or close to The Island for many Lagosians would not have been such a problem if commuting to their workplaces was not such a big hassle. Transportation remains a significant challenge, and many spend hours in traffic to and from work. 

Benson Akpapkan lives in Alakuko in the Agbado area of Lagos but works at JAMB office in Ikoyi. He spends an average of six hours daily on the road, a trip he said he had mastered so much he tries to make the best of it.

“I have my breakfast on my way to work and catch the rest of my sleep on the bus. I see some familiar faces every day because we use the same route daily. Almost everyone sleeps on the bus in the morning, but we all know to wake up when we get to our bus stops”, he said jokingly. “The only thing I don’t do is take my bath on the bus. Other things like eating, sleeping, and chatting with my friends are all done on the road. You need to master it to survive.”

In a bid to address the transportation problem in Lagos, the state established the BRT bus service in 2008. Its unreliability, however, remains a problem.

“Any corporate worker that relies on BRT to get to work is begging to be sacked”, Bidemi Arowolo, a compliance officer at a bank on Victoria Island, said. “You have to rely on the Sienna and Yellow Buses and private cars going to The Island in the early hours of the morning to get to work and pray to God that you don’t get kidnapped. My salary can afford rent at VI, but there won’t be enough to survive and save, so I stay in Ogba.”

Unfamiliar family

As the high cost of rent is pushing residents to the fringe of Lagos where rent is relatively cheaper than the city centre, it is also denying them family time that has turned many parents into ‘strangers’ in their homes.

Jeremiah told Neusroom that during his one week leave in 2020 that he spent at home, his son became restless after seeing him at home consistently for three days.

“He was surprised to see me at home and kept asking me why I did not go to work again. I did not even know he has a friend from the next house who comes around after school to visit him. This friend taught him how to play draught. My son could play draught and I did not even know. I tried to learn as much as I could but one week is too short. He prefers to tell his mother things while I settle for being the ‘other guy’ at home,” he said.

Benson, who works at the JAMB office in Ikoyi, also has a similar story. He recalled an incident in 2019 when his daughter’s school organised a father’s day event and he could not make it.

“The event was scheduled for 4 pm when parents are supposed to come and pick up their children from school. It was just a 30-minute game where fathers and their children paired for a relay race and tug of war. I promised her I was going to be there and I left work by 3 pm. Unfortunately, I did not get there until 6 pm. She did not talk to me for days. I felt hurt.” 

Less quality family time has been said to affect children. A Guardian UK study showed that “fathers who took pleasure in caring for their young children were 28% less likely to have children with behavioural problems.” With less time spent with children at home due to long hours spent on the road, it makes it harder for families to bond. This affects the mental well-being of the children and makes it harder to properly guide children during their developmental phase.

As the lights continue to beacon on Eko Atlantic City, symbolising the lush and daring opulence of the city, Nigerians who can afford to live there and companies that can afford to set up offices there do so. However, the majority of those that cater to their needs are pushed farther away. Their family become the ultimate victims of their inevitable absence.