Explanation that only a room was affected by the fire and the fact that the occupier was ready to effect necessary repairs fell on deaf ears. It was based on this that one had to seek for another accommodation, but what I met demands urgent actions and intervention of the Lagos State Government to avert needless breakdown of law and order.

In the first instance, Lagos property owners have gone out of control. They fix rents arbitrarily without any recourse to rules or tenancy laws. In the course of scouting around, I met a landlord who told me categorically that a two-bedroomed flat was N1m in a house in Surulere built in 1998. Even when other houses within the same vicinity were N500,000. He stuck to his gun telling me he had no apologies since he owned the property.

Another landlord said his own three-bedroomed apartment in a place close to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital was N1.5m when the same apartment in the same vicinity goes for N700, 000. He was adamant and saw nothing wrong, even though the house in question was the old Lagos Executive Development Board built probably in the 1970s. The same went for a landlord who told his tenants in a block of two-bedroomed flats to vacate if they were not ready to pay N800, 000 when their neighbours using the same two-bedroomed flat were paying N500, 000! It is not unusual for a prospective or sitting tenant to witness the above scenarios.

One very common category of property owners in Lagos are the inherited landlords/landladies. This is the group of people who inherit some of these properties from their parents or families. Some of this set of people is so vicious that rent increment on a yearly basis is not considered an issue. In fact, tenants residing in houses managed by this set of owners have little or no rights as any action is met with a threat of ejection. It is in this kind of places that house owners don’t pay any bills, be they waste management, security, house maintenance, water rate and some even electricity bill. Tenants are in most cases consigned to all sorts of illegalities that they dare not complain about.

It is common knowledge that from Surulere, Gbagada, Yaba, Jibowu, Ebute-Meta all the way to the Island (Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, particularly in Lekki/Ajah areas almost 65 per cent built houses have remained unoccupied due to high rents) the exorbitant cost of letting is shocking and unbearable to most tenants. The Lagos hinterland like Ikorodu, Ipaja, Alimosho, Ayobo, Oke-Aro, Abesan, Ijaiye-Ojokoro among others are not faring better. Property owners remain king and fix rents arbitrarily without any recourse to the prevailing dwindling economic situation or control or regulation by the government. Considering that property appreciation is dependent on government’s provision of amenities like good roads, drainage, pipe-borne water, electricity among others, why is the Lagos State Government quiet when the citizenry are being fleeced so brazenly?

The government on its part has been accused of not doing enough in housing provision especially for the low income earners. The celebrated low cost housing model developed by the Jakande administration in the Second Republic was not built upon towards delivering mass houses for the people. Instead, successive governments, particularly the last administration of Mr Babatunde Fashola, (who was accused of elitism), built houses beyond the reach of the common man. Since government is a social service and not for profits, then, it behoves Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to look inward for delivery of mass houses with a social template. This will surely mitigate against the continued arbitrariness of property owners in Lagos.

In addition, I will like to call on Ambode to resume work on the unfinished housing estates left behind by his predecessor, specifically in Ijora, Surulere, Ilubirin/Osborne, Gbagada, Lekki, Akerele, Imota, and Ikorodu. Completion of these estates must be with a social intent that will benefit the majority, mostly low-income earners.

PUNCH.

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By definition, public properties are amenities and infrastructure put in place by the government for the common good. These infrastructure are symbolic of the social contract government has entered into with the citizens. In plain language, public properties belong to the people or a community. The people are expected to take ownership of them.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in our clime. It is ironical that Nigerians see public properties as belonging to the people in government. Citizens do not realise that the amenities are procured and put in place with their hard earned money which they have contributed as taxes to the government. To underscore this ignorance, these public utilities often become the first target of destruction in times of crisis. In the process, public buildings, street lights, parks, roads are vandalised. It is the same ignorance that drives the vandalism of national assets like pipelines.

I have always considered such actions as akin to cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face. In the estimation of vandals, they think they are hurting the government. In truth, we are all victims of their ignorance. The wide gap between the government and the people has created a distrust which fuels vandalism. This gap has bred the “they vs us” mentality that is at the heart of the ills that bedevil our country today. That is why a vandal will break a pipeline to siphon fuel. It is the same reason a citizen will damage power grid to steal cables meant to provide street lights for his neighbourhood because they think such amenities are government properties.

In the mind of these vandals, they are getting back their “share” of the national cake. They do not see the link between their tax and the public property. The destruction and wilful damage to public utilities which amount to sabotage must henceforth be viewed seriously. This destruction ranges from just knocking down a street light to vandalising a power plant. These unwholesome practices by a few unscrupulous Nigerians are at the heart of our underdevelopment as a nation.

In Lagos, I have seen this happen frequently and without a deterrent. Even when these acts of destruction are reported in the media, the reports reinforce the stereotype that the damaged or vandalised infrastructure belong to the government. For example, the alleged Lagos cable thief was said to have been caught with “Ambode street light project cable.” An impression was created that the stolen cables belonged to Governor Akinwumi Ambode. Obviously, there is the need to create awareness for Nigerians to know that these amenities belong to them. Apart from the damage being done to the government-funded infrastructure like pipelines, bridge railings and power grid, I have seen how in Lagos, public properties funded with taxpayers’ money are being damaged with impunity. One is mostly alarmed at the rate street light poles are being knocked down by reckless drivers with the culprits often getting away with such destruction.

Even the roads are being vandalised. In many cases, telecommunications companies and individuals cause damage to roads when laying optic fibre cables. In many cases, they never bother to repair the damage caused when they dig up the roads. While the people need to understand that these utilities are put in place for their own good, the government must be resolute in enforcing the laws that protect our national assets. As seen below, the law views vandalism seriously.

Under the miscellaneous provision of the Criminal Code entitled, “Wilful destruction of public property”, the law states that “any person who unlawfully or with intent to destroy or damage any public property removes, defaces or damages any public property shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction. “If the property in question is a railway line, electric power line, telephone line or a demarcation line on a public highway and the property is damaged or rendered dangerous, impassable or non-functional, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21 years without the option of a fine.”

Under the destruction of highway, the law also warns that “Any person, who for any purpose whatsoever, wilfully, unlawfully or maliciously causes any damage or authorises any damage to any highway and fails, refuses or neglects to repair such highway on completion of any work, if any, thereon; or (b) destroys, removes or damages any guard rail or other structure on any highway, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years without the option of a fine.”

Under the provision for damage done to or tampering with electric fittings, among others, Section 10 states that “any person who unlawfully disconnects, removes, damages, tampers, meddles with or in any way whatsoever interferes with any electric fittings, meters or other appliances used for generating, transforming, converting, conveyancing, supplying or selling electricity shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21 years.”

From the above, one can see the position of the law is stringent on destruction of public properties. The implication of the crime is clear. We all suffer when gas pipelines are breached or when disruption is caused to oil pipelines or when power grid is sabotaged. In other countries, these are crimes that attract maximum sentences. Government must apply the laws to serve as a deterrent to the few Nigerians whose pre-occupation is to put the entire population in grief.

Most importantly, there is the need to create public awareness for Nigerians to take ownership of public properties in their domain. The message should be clear enough to drive home the implication of vandalising the infrastructure. By so doing, the people will protect or apprehend vandals when they attempt to damage or steal what belongs to the people. The civil society, National Orientation Agency and traditional institutions have a role to play in this regard. Beyond enforcing the law, there is also a need to address the growing poverty that makes Nigerians resort to desperate measures and self-help. The gap has created a situation where people see the government and everything connected to it as the enem. Bridging the gap will build trust. There must also be a hotline where people can report cases of vandalism wherever and whenever they occur. This will help the police and concerned agencies track and apprehend such vandals.

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It described the 16 per cent cost as unaffordable, adding that the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company in conjunction with other mortgage institutions was working to increase home ownership in the country.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, gave the hint in Abuja while speaking on the challenges being faced in the full commencement of the first phase of the Federal Government’s 10,000 housing units under the Affordable Home Ownership Scheme.

The scheme, which was inaugurated in July this year and spearheaded by the NMRC, is to enable the citizens own their houses at affordable rates.

Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke at a housing stakeholder’s consultative workshop, noted that it was imperative to cut the cost required for land titling, governor’s consent and property registration processes in order to enable the government to build these homes.

She said, “The NMRC is working to enhance the enabling environment for mortgage market growth and increase home ownership by partnering state governments through a pilot state scheme. So far, 18 states have signed off, all accenting to review extant land titling, governor’s consent and property registration processes to make this home ownership possible.

“It is very onerous that the present processes result in a cost that could be up to 16 per cent of the value of the accessed property in question. That is not affordable for our people. And this is what we are trying to work on because if we don’t work on it, we may have all the mortgage finance but we will not have the demand. So the plan is to scale it down from 16 per cent to about three per cent.”

The minister noted that through a Memorandum of Understanding, the Lagos State governor and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory had signed to review existing governor’s consent, titling and property registration processes.

This, she said, was with a view to reducing the cost and fast-tracking steps to perfection of titles at the land registries so as to benefit those who had indicated interest in the scheme.

“And this is the proposal we presented to these two governors to work with us on, and I am very hopeful that they will accent to it because we are actively talking to them. If we get that then it becomes a template that all other states hopefully will follow,” Okonjo-Iweala added.

She noted that without the adoption of this model, it would be difficult to proceed in the provision of affordable houses for Nigerians and urged states and the National Assembly to help fast track steps aimed at realising this.

“It is taking us a bit longer. I was very optimistic when we started with the 10,000 mortgage scheme that we could just go ahead but as we went into it, we saw things that had to be tackled before we could move on.”

The minister stated that private sector mortgage lenders were encouraged to join the NMRC as the company would provide them access to liquidity and long term finance.

She said this would enable them to extend the terms of the mortgages they were providing by 20 or more years at affordable rates.

According to her, the meeting was to discuss issues that would help stakeholders to tackle the housing deficit in the country which was estimated at between 17 million and 23 million units, adding that the sector was a prime mover of most developed economies but this was not so in Nigeria.

Okonjo-Iweala further observed that 10,000 applications were expected but a total of 66,402 applications were received across the country.

According to her, 51 per cent of the applicants preferred homes located in Abuja, reinforcing the unique role of the city as the centre of national unity.

She said, “I think we have to think about this. People always say Nigeria is falling apart and so on. But somewhere there, there are people who believe that this is the place to be and therefore they want a house there. And I think this is a very important message for the country. People believe in our capital city, in fact, our younger people. And that to me brings hope.

“I actually expected more people to apply for mortgages for homes in their home states. But I was really blown away when I saw that more than half preferred homes here in Abuja. They believe in the unity of the country. Lagos is the second highest city of preference with about 18 per cent people wanting homes there.

“Applications from the age group of 31 to 40 years accounted for more than half of the total applications, followed by those in the age group of 41 to 50. So that is why I say it is also promising because it is the younger people that are saying they believe in this country. About 63 per cent of the applicants were male; 37 per cent were female and joint application accounted for 10 per cent.”

In her address, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, said the workshop was organised as a pre-summit towards ensuring the success of the forthcoming two-day Nigeria Housing Construction Summit/Expo fixed for January next year.

“The objective of this pre-summit is to present a platform for key players and stakeholders in the private and public sectors of the economy in the housing delivery chain to discuss the challenges and issues militating against the provision of affordable housing in Nigeria,” she said.

PUNCH.

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