Pamela Ephraim
Aisha Ayuba works as a receptionist at a private organization in Abuja but she resides within the premises of an abandoned building which lacks running water and electricity.
Abuja, Nigeria’s infamous capital city with a population of over three million, hosts the federal government and many key establishments and institutions. Owing to its strategic status, the highly cosmopolitan city is an ideal real estate haven. Although Abuja’s real estate sector has been witnessing huge investments, a significant number of minimum wage earners are in dire need of housing. Exacerbated by insecurity in neighboring states and the rise in rural-urban migration, access to decent and affordable housing is a fundamental challenge for many like Aisha.
According to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), there are over 6,000 uncompleted buildings across the territory. Approximately24.4 million Nigerians are homeless.
“I came from Kaduna state to Abuja in 2021. My monthly salary is N35,000 and the lowest rent price for a room in this area [Dawaki] is N200,000 and you pay for light, still buy water and if I transport myself to work and come back, how much will remain inside the salary? Honestly, it’s not easy, right now they’ve demolished my bacha and I’m back to square one squatting in another person’s bacha. It’s very cold here this rainy season. I am just living to survive”, Aisha lamented.
Pc: pamela Ephraim
Makeshift structures known as bachas, constructed within undeveloped lands or behind unroofed/abandoned buildings are popular within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
As FCT’s new minister, Nyesom Wike, assumed office in August, he threatened to revoke lands which were allocated but not developed and reclaim uncompleted buildings alleging that such buildings “have become shanties for criminals”.
“A Home without a door”
Gloria Austine, an akara seller, does not know the owner of the abandoned property where she resides rent free in Karimo but says “lack of accommodation” forced her into taking refuge there last year.
“Staying in this kind of a place is not easy. There’s a lot of challenges. A place without a door, everybody can walk in anytime he wishes. It’s not comfortable but due to my (financial) condition, I have to exercise patience and bear it. I came from Nasarawa state. If I am forced out of here, my only option will be to return back to my village.”
Photo credit: Pamela Ephraim
Femi Martins resides in the same abandoned building as Gloria. Although he claims to know the owner of the abandoned building, he said the owner has not showed up in 8 years.
“I have been guarding this building since 2015. I lived here alone till other people came and joined me last year. The owner of the building told me to guard it, I have his phone number but he has not come here for the past eight years”, Femi narrated.
The Housing Crisis
According to renowned real estate broker, Lukman Shobowale, Nigeria’s housing deficit grew progressively from 7 million housing units in 1991 to 12 million in 2007, 14 million in 2010 and subsequently 28 million housing units in 2022. The combination of a growing urban population, lack of an efficient mortgage system, poverty, increasing construction costs, high inflation and declining household income, has made access to decent and affordable housing difficult for many Nigerians.
Nigeria is forecast to become the third populous country in the world by 2050 after India and China. But experts warn poverty and inequality could increase unless the housing problem is addressed.
The International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) says more than 28 million Nigerians lack access to decent and affordable housing, and this is in tandem with the estimates of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), which projects that Nigeria requires at least 28 million housing units to close the Housing gap.
#This report sent by Pamela Ephraim, a journalist based in Abuja Nigeria, is part of the requirement for the Media Entrepreneurship and Niche Building Fellowship, 2023 by the Africa Foundation For Young Media Professionals.
