Escalating rents across Nigeria are driving residents to live in vacant shops as landlords continue steep annual hikes.
Skyrocketing rents are forcing many Nigerians to turn vacant shop spaces into living quarters. Vanguard found that after COVID-19, landlords hiked rents by over 100 per cent, pricing tenants out of even single-room apartments. Mr. Jude Boma, a mechanic, said: “A few months ago, my rent of a room and parlour apartment was increased by over three hundred per cent. As a vulcanizer where do I get N150,000 from?” He sent his family to their village and now shares a rented shop with friends.
Miss Osasowie George, a pure water seller, recounted: “We were three then. Not until my landlord’s son increased the rent to N80,000. We saw a shop in a street attached to a building and decided to rent it as an apartment.”
Caretaker Idris Moshood explained that landlords now rent idle shops to artisans and labourers for living space. Despite state efforts to ease housing burdens, many tenants face eviction as yearly increases persist.