• ‘To deliver additional 14,022 units by March 2026’
• State recovers N295m for parties from estate dispute mediation
Lagos State Government has said that the state’s housing stock significantly increasedby almost 10,000 units in the last six years.The state’s Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, disclosed this, yesterday, during a media briefing to commemorate the second year in office of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s second term.
He noted the administration’s commitment to tackling the state’s housing deficit amid global and local challenges.
Akinderu-Fatai, who acknowledged the pressing global affordable housing crisis, exacerbated by rapid urbanisation, a trend particularly evident in Lagos, one of the world’s most populous cities with over 23 million residents, said that Nigeria faces a massive housing deficit estimated at over 22 million units, a situation compounded by rural-urban migration and infrastructure limitations.
“Despite these challenges, the Sanwo-Olu administration has adopted a multi-pronged approach to boost housing delivery. This includes direct budgetary allocations for construction projects targeting low-income earners and fostering Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) by offering incentives and streamlining approval processes for real estate developers.
“The impact of the economic shock waves across the world is affecting the low and medium-income earners and rendering many homeless as a result of the huge surge in construction costs, materials, as well as a hike in housing rentals,” he stated.
He emphasised that the state government recognises housing as a crucial pillar of economic development, saying that key achievements outlined by the government included 9,970 new home units delivered through direct government funding and PPP initiatives over the past six years, commissioning of 21 housing estates across the state’s five administrative divisions since 2019, ongoing construction of 4,052 additional units in five housing schemes, expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026, bringing the total delivery to 14,022 units, among others.
The commissioner, who announced plans by the state government to release over 1,600 more homes, also highlighted the government’s commitment to exploring a monthly rental scheme to ease the burden of yearly rent payments for low-income earners and to promote transparency in home allocation through balloting.
Akinderu-Fatai, therefore, acknowledged the challenges faced by the ministry to include land encroachment, litigations, and inflationary trends, among others.
ALSO, the state government said that N295.471 million was recovered through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in estate-related disputes among parties.
Akinderu-Fatai said that20 properties were recovered on behalf of the third parties through a mediation process involving tenants, land buyers, fraudulent estate agents, land vendors and property developers.
The commissioner, who also revealed that an additional 1,828 housing units in different completion dates would be delivered by the first quarter of 2026, said that one of the biggest obstacles in Nigeria’s housing market is the challenge of affordable mortgage financing.
He noted that mortgage interest rates from private developers could be as high as 20-25 per cent, making it difficult for low-income earners in Nigeria to purchase a home.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, while responding to questions regarding the escalating cost of renting accommodation in the state, clarified that existing regulations stipulate that agents should not charge more than 10 per cent as agency fees, in addition to legal fees.
She acknowledged a critical loophole in the current tenancy law, saying: “The current tenancy law does not explicitly state the maximum amount agents can charge, creating an ambiguity that many agents are exploiting by imposing exorbitant fees.”
