Nigeria’s economic crisis is hitting renters in Lagos hard as landlords pass down the costs of spiraling inflation — pushing residents further out, upending children’s education, and adding to workers’ already infamous commutes. With a population of more than 20 million, the country’s sprawling, ever-growing economic capital has for years struggled to keep up with housing demand, with some 3,000 people added to its population per day. But government-led economic reforms, including the floating of the naira currency and the removal of a fuel subsidy, have sent a shock through the economy.
In a city that scions of oil wealth, a solid middle class, and millions of informal workers all call home, rents are spiking on both Lagos’ richer islands and the cheaper — and poorer — mainland. “I might just have to find a way to plead with my landlord,” said Yemisi Odusanya, a 40-year-old cookbook author and food blogger. After giving birth to twins last year, she’s doubtful she can find a better deal elsewhere for her family of seven, even after her landlord in Lekki raised the rent 120 percent.
“I’m planning to pack out,” Bartholomew Idowu, a transportation worker, said emphatically, though he wasn’t sure where he and his children would move. The mainland resident’s landlord hit him with a 28-percent rent increase, from 350,000 naira ($232) per year to 450,000 — a significant sum in a country where the GDP per capita is $835. – Children changing school.
