Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has advised young workers to avoid putting themselves under financial pressure by rushing to rent expensive apartments they cannot comfortably afford.
Hamzat gave the advice during a question-and-answer session on Nigeria Info FM on Thursday while responding to concerns about the rising cost of accommodation in Lagos.
He was asked how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a self-contained apartment or mini-flat with annual rent of about N1 million.
The deputy governor advised young people to choose accommodation based on their financial capacity, noting that living with parents, relatives or sharing accommodation could be considered while they build their finances.
“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.
“You know, go to Turkey, for example, and see how young people also live.”
He stressed that young workers should not feel compelled to immediately move into self-contained apartments if their earnings could not sustain the cost.
“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.
Hamzat also recommended that residents should avoid spending more than 40 per cent of their income on rent, considering other essential expenses such as food, clothing and transportation.
“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,” he said.
On home ownership, the deputy governor said Lagos was promoting mortgage financing as a more realistic alternative to paying the full cost of a property at once.
He explained that the state has a mortgage board and is working to establish residents’ identities, addresses and employment details to assess their ability to repay housing loans.
“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 added that the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) number could help the government establish information about residents seeking housing finance.
“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.
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Using a N7 million property as an example, Hamzat said a prospective homeowner could pay 10 per cent upfront and spread the remaining payment over 10 years.
“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 noted that monthly repayments would depend on the buyer’s income, adding, “Some people pay 25,000 monthly or 35,000, whatever it is, depending on your income.”
According to Hamzat, mortgage financing would make home ownership more achievable for residents who cannot afford a one-off payment.
“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.
He further encouraged young people to begin with smaller properties and gradually work towards owning larger homes as their financial circumstances improve.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Hamzat, however, acknowledged that solving the housing crisis also requires broader economic improvements that would enable residents to earn better incomes.
“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 controlling the rising cost of goods and services would make it easier for residents to plan their finances.
“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.
The Lagos State Government has previously promoted mortgage-based housing initiatives, including LagosHOMS, which enables subscribers to acquire homes through rent-to-own arrangements and spread payments over several years.