Human rights lawyer and activist, Comrade Deji Adeyanju, has raised a fresh alarm over Nigeria’s worsening housing crisis, calling on President Bola Tinubu to declare a State of Emergency on housing and urban tenancy as rising rents and excessive charges push millions of Nigerians deeper into financial hardship.
In an open letter he reportedly wrote to the President, Adeyanju described Nigeria’s housing market as “predatory”, warning that soaring rents, excessive agency charges, arbitrary service fees and exploitative practices by landlords and estate agents are making decent accommodation increasingly unaffordable.
“From the sprawling suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to the overcrowded residential districts of Lagos State, millions of hardworking Nigerians are being crushed under the weight of an unbridled, hyper-inflationary, and predatory housing market,” he wrote.
His warning comes as the Federal Government moves to settle years of uncertainty over the size of Nigeria’s housing deficit. The government has now officially pegged the deficit at 14.925 million units, or about 15 million homes.
The figure, disclosed by Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Muttaqha Darma, on Tuesday, followed an assessment by the ministry’s Technical Committee using the World Bank Adequate Housing Index and the UN-Habitat Household Crowding Index.
The new estimate is lower than previous figures of between 20 million and 28 million units, but it does not necessarily mean Nigeria’s housing crisis is less severe. Rather, the latest data reveals that the problem goes beyond the number of homes that are missing.
Government findings indicate that another 15.2 million existing homes suffer from severe structural inadequacies or substandard conditions. This puts the country’s effective housing pressure close to 28 million units when the quantitative shortage and poor-quality housing stock are considered together.
The critical thing is that Nigeria’s housing problem is not simply that too few houses are being built; it is that too many Nigerians cannot afford the houses available, while many existing homes do not meet acceptable standards.
The pressure is particularly severe in urban centres, as the North-West has the highest raw unit shortage, driven by rural-to-urban migration, while the North-East faces major pressure from population growth and displacement. Lagos has an independently estimated deficit of more than 3.3 million units, reflecting its large population and limited land availability.
At the same time, rising construction costs, including the sharp increase in cement prices, have weakened self-construction and formal housing development, while rental dependence has risen above 80 per cent in major urban hubs.
Adeyanju’s intervention therefore points to the immediate affordability crisis facing households. he said. “When shelter becomes an instrument of extortion, the government abdicates its primary purpose.”
He said many Nigerians are forced to pay two to three years’ rent upfront, in addition to agency fees, legal charges, service charges and caution fees. He also called for limits on advance rent, tighter regulation of service charges and stronger protection for tenants.
From Building Estates to Building a Housing System
The systemic nature of the crisis was highlighted by Olu Olanrewaju, director of Altair International, in an earlier interview with Pinnacle Daily.
With more than 30 years of housing industry experience across the UK, Europe, Africa and emerging markets, Olanrewaju argued that Nigeria’s failure is not simply a shortage of construction but the absence of a functioning housing system capable of delivering affordable homes at scale.
“The real failure is systemic, not technical,” he said. “Nigeria does not merely have a housing shortage; it has a housing system that is not yet designed to deliver affordable homes at scale.”
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According to Olanrewaju, governments have for decades approached housing primarily as a construction exercise, with emphasis placed on announcing targets and commissioning estates rather than fixing the broader housing value chain.
“For too long, housing policy has been treated as a matter of construction: announce a number of units, commission a site, cut a ribbon and move on,” he said.
That approach becomes increasingly difficult to defend against the latest government data. If nearly 15 million homes are missing and another 15.2 million existing homes are structurally inadequate, simply building more estates will not resolve the crisis unless those homes are affordable, properly located and supported by infrastructure.
Finance is central to that challenge. Olanrewaju argued that conventional mortgages cannot reach the majority of Nigerians, particularly households earning irregular incomes. He recommended longer-term mortgages, rent-to-own schemes, housing cooperatives, incremental housing finance, employer-supported housing, housing microfinance and credit guarantees.
The Federal Government’s ₦1 trillion Ministry of Finance Incorporated Real Estate Investment Fund is an important step in that direction. The scheme offers fixed financing at 9.75 per cent, with repayment periods of up to 20 to 25 years. Buyers require a minimum 10 per cent equity contribution, while financing can cover up to 90 per cent of property value, subject to a ₦100 million cap.
The pilot phase mobilised ₦250 billion and delivered ₦128 billion in mortgages to 1,859 families across 25 states.
Yet the scale of the intervention also shows the enormity of the challenge. A programme that has reached 1,859 families cannot by itself address a housing pressure approaching 28 million units.
What Nigeria needs is therefore not just more mortgage schemes, but a housing finance system capable of attracting pension funds, insurers, capital markets and private developers while also reaching households outside formal employment.
Land reform is equally important, which Olanrewaju described as the foundation of housing reform, calling for simpler and digitised land registration, clearer approval processes and serviced land banks.
“Land reform is the foundation of housing reform. No housing reform will work without land reform,” he said.
The Federal Government’s latest position suggests that it recognises some of these institutional weaknesses.
Darma said the government was proposing a National Housing and Built Environment Regulation Policy to improve planning, housing delivery and investor confidence. The policy is expected to regulate developers, strengthen construction quality and protect prospective homeowners from fraudulent practices.
Permanent Secretary, Dr Shuaib Belgore, also said fragmented data systems and weak regulation had hindered planning, investment and sustainable housing development.
The new housing data could therefore provide a stronger foundation for policy, but data alone will not solve the crisis.
Olanrewaju’s broader argument is that housing must be treated as an economic sector involving land, infrastructure, finance, planning, household income and long-term management. Sustainable housing, he said, must also connect people to jobs, transport, schools, healthcare, water, energy and other essential services.
“Successful countries build systems, not slogans,” he said.
That is ultimately the central lesson from Nigeria’s latest housing figures. The country does not simply need millions of additional houses. It needs a housing market where land is accessible, finance is affordable, rental options are available, developments are connected to economic opportunities and regulation protects both households and investors.
Adeyanju’s call for urgent rental reforms addresses the immediate pain facing tenants. Olanrewaju’s recommendations point to the deeper structural problems of land, finance and planning, while the Federal Government’s latest data and proposed regulatory framework provide an opportunity to redesign housing policy around credible evidence.
The danger is that Nigeria could continue measuring success by the number of estates announced or completed while affordability deteriorates.
As Olanrewaju put it, “The crisis will not be solved by counting the houses the government promises to build. It will be solved when housing becomes a functioning market, a social priority and a disciplined national development strategy.”
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X