Hustling for most people who work or do business in the FCT becomes meaningful only when they are able to secure a decent but affordable accommodation.
Hardly had there been a time that Abuja residents ever placed the need for accommodation or housing ahead of other needs in view of the prevailing economic challenges. A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics had hinted that inflation had hit a 27-year high, while prices of food items and cost of living had risen astronomically, to mention a few.
As schools and colleges reopen, tuition and other fees, most especially, in most private schools are being increased. Cost of transportation has also risen. Yet the salaries of workers in the public and private sectors of the economy have remained unchanged, and in some cases, many of the workers are being owed salaries for several months.
Quite unexpectedly, house rent has crumbled to an all time low, under the weight of the current recession in the economy, and this has left people to wonder what was actually happening. Could it be that Nigerians have suddenly become more frugal in their spending habits in view of the bleak economic realities? Is it that they now prefer more conservative social habits to ostentatious lifestyles, may be, to avert being subjected to various forms of taxation which public authorities might soon impose on luxurious living?
Nigerians are hard to beat once it comes to family, well being and survival. One could only imagine or seriously examine the emerging yet interesting patterns of rent in the FCT.
A cross-section of residents bared their minds on the matter to Inside FCT. Alaoma John, resident of Wuse, observed that uncertainties about the future of the economy were responsible for the perceived fall in rent across the territory. ‘’Many families who lived here before now have already moved to places like Lugbe, Airport Road, Kubwa, Jahi, Dutse, Galadimawa districts where they could find low-cost accommodation at a discount even a three bedroom flat for less than a million Naira for a year. They prefer that to luxury homes just because of the bad economy right now’’, he said.
He added that many families were moving out of places like Wuse, Maitama, Asokoro districts because of fears that government might introduce more taxes or charges relating to environmental sanitation, parking of vehicles, security, gate entry and exit permits because of more government presence and services that attracted people to such places before now. He also pointed out the inability of many employers
of labour to pay workers salaries on time as responsible for the current drift from city-centre to the suburbs.
In his words, ‘’Many families who have been living in these high brow districts are finding things tough these days, especially where their breadwinners who could be civil servants, businessmen or contractors were owed salaries for several months, had poor returns on business, had not been fully mobilised for contracts done’’.
Barrister Adeyemi Moshood, corroborated the first respondent when he said that several houses all over the place, especially in Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse had been vacant for up to thirteen months now after their last occupants moved out. ‘’Just drive around town, from Wuse to Maitama to Asokoro, all you will see would be the tags which hang around these houses, saying, ‘House For Rent,’ or ‘Vacant Accommodation, Please Call This Number…,’ and so on.
Many landlords are also devising realistic strategies to ensure mutual agreements with their tenants. I learnt that many of them now accept part-payments of rent, say for 6 months, 9 months or more. Some even accept monthly payment of rent if the tenant shows trustworthiness’’, he concluded.
Why do many more families now prefer living in the lowly environments of Kubwa, Lugbe, Jahi, Gwarinpa and others to the high-brow districts?
Mrs. Ogechi Nwosu, a civil servant who lives in Jahi, suggested that middle class parents now look for ways of cutting down on unnecessary expenses relating to their children’s tuition, transportation, housing, feeding, and clothing because there was no money to spend any how any more. According to her, ‘’Many parents now want to have their children attend a school that is very close to their homes so as to cut down on unnecessary bills’’.
While the suburbs continue to grapple with issues of lack of motorable roads, public water supply, sanitation facilities, effective security coverage and inadequate electric power supply, middle to low-income families will continue to find solace in the fact that they could secure an accommodation for a mere pittance.
An estate developer, who preferred to be simply addressed as Engineer Ajani informed us that a bedroom flat that he had advertised for rent after much renovation work somewhere in Lugbe had not been taken by any tenant for over 10 months till date just because he left the rent at N350, 000 for a year without the option of staggered payments
