3 months ago
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In Nigeria, discriminatory practices by landlords based on tribe, religion, or marital status are exacerbating the nation’s severe housing deficit, highlighting a troubling breach of constitutional and ethical norms, GODFREY GEORGE writes
On May 16, 2019, Rebecca Chukwu’s world shattered into a million pieces. Her husband, Timothy, had set out that Thursday morning from their Lagos home, journeying to the Kwale community in Delta State for a construction job.
He left with dreams and plans for the future dancing in his mind, not knowing that this day would mark the end of the shared life he had been enjoying with his beloved wife.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and shadows grew long, he never returned. That evening, upon arriving at the construction site, he had called Rebecca to reassure her of his safe arrival.
His voice, calm and steady, offered a small comfort as he promised he would be back in no more than two days. Chukwu, heavy with the anticipation of their first child and already aching from his absence, had lamented how much she missed him.
The promise of his swift return had been a beacon of hope in the growing darkness of her loneliness. But, in a cruel twist of fate, Chukwu was left heartbroken as news came after four days that her husband had gone missing.
“The person who called me simply said, ‘Madam, we no see your Oga again o. Call am.’ Before I could even ask what the problem was, when he was last seen, the line went off and never reconnected again.
When I travelled to the place with my seven-month-old pregnancy, I realised my husband had fallen from a platform where he was working and died on the spot.
They were trying to cover it up,” Chukwu said as tears welled up in her eyes.
At 35, she found herself confronted with an unimaginable shift in her identity. In the blink of an eye, she had to don a new, heart-wrenching badge — widow.
Two months after her husband’s tragic death, with his body still missing and the void of his absence ever-present, Chukwu gave birth to their first child — a beautiful girl. Amid the overwhelming sorrow, the arrival of their daughter brought a glimmer of hope and a new chapter to embrace. This brought yet another badge – Single mother.
Strapped to her back, Chukwu said she battled the construction consultant and developers, going from police station to human rights organisation, seeking help.
Eventually, a team was set up that uncovered that her husband indeed died on duty and was taken to a morgue in the area. The construction site was shut down and compensation was paid to her.
“It was a tough battle. I spent over eight months in Delta. My baby was not feeding well. I also was not feeding well. I was calling my neighbours in Lagos to help me sell my fridge, my furniture and other of my properties so I could raise money for lawyers.
“I knew that if I left the matter to the police, it may not reach a logical conclusion, because this company I am talking about is big in the area. If they could hire a Lagos-based mason and afford to pay for his accommodation and feeding for two days, you know that these guys are big,” the mother said.
Upon her return to Lagos, Chukwu was met with a disheartening sight; what remained of her belongings had been discarded on the street. Her husband had failed to pay the rent for two years, and the landlord’s patience had finally worn thin.
Neighbours, showing a measure of compassion, had managed to gather her possessions into a makeshift pile and cover them with what little protection they could offer.
Quest for a new home
With some compensation in hand, Rebecca was in urgent need of a new home. However, her search for a place to live became a gruelling ordeal.
The sting of her new reality — being both a single mother and a widow —cast a shadow over every interaction. When a prospective landlord in Ojodu learned of her child, he promptly withdrew his interest, leaving Chukwu to face yet another hurdle in her relentless quest for a stable home.
“I saw hell. These landlords and agents looked at me like shit. Once they hear ‘widow’ or ‘single mother’, they’ll just tell you their house is no longer available and cut the line on you. It was terrible,” she recalled.
Sharing an experience that hurt her the most, Chukwu said the one that hurt her the most was when a landlady who she had gone to meet invited her for deliverance in a church after she heard her story.
She said, “I was not begging her to reduce the rent. She said the available one-bedroom apartment would cost me N500,000 per year. I was to pay N650,000 for the total package, including agent, caution and service fees. I had the money but she would not take me because I was a widow.
“She expressly told me that she did not want me to bring a ‘stranger’ spirit into her compound, citing that all her tenants’ husbands were alive. It was very humiliating that, as soon as I left with the agent who had brought me, I broke down in tears halfway down the road.
“I was inconsolable. I spent over six months searching for a house until I got one in Ogba. The landlady herself is a widow, so she could relate with my story. She never saw my face, as she is based abroad. We only spoke on the phone once and she was so kind. She told the agent to waive some statutory fees and I moved in almost immediately as renovations took place.”
Single lady victimised
Favour Rowland is a successful entrepreneur with a fleet of businesses to her name. She recently began an agency to source live-in home help for families in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Despite having a traceable source of income, finding an apartment in the megacity was like passing a needle through a haystack. Her only offence – she is a 35-year-old successful single lady.
“Most of the landlords would ask me, ‘But, fine girl, why are you not married at this age?’ My compound is not that kind of compound,” suggesting that I am involved in prostitution.
“The ones that were a bit sensible would begin to check me out, asking if they’d waive some fees if I got down with them. Before I got this place I moved into in February, I saw shege (hell),” she said in a phone interview with our correspondent.
Rowland, an indigene of Kalabari town in Rivers State, said even female homeowners discriminated against her, adding that she had to search for a new home for 11 months.
“My former landlord was troubling me, and I had to move. His caretaker had asked me out on a date, and I declined. Then, I had a romantic partner who always came to visit. We are no longer together now. But then, he was a regular face in that compound.
“I don’t know if that angered the caretaker, but he called the landlord, telling him that I had turned my house into a brothel where I brought in different men. That is untrue. I had some male friends who came to visit. I also have family members. I have two adult brothers as well. Was I supposed to introduce every visitor who came to my house because I was a single lady?” she queried.
She noted, however, that the single men in the compound came in with different women but were not victimised or asked to explain the relationship they shared with their visitors.
“I was fed up with the situation. So, as I renewed my rent around February or March 2023, I decided to start looking for a new home. The victimisation out there on single ladies is just too much,” she added.
‘I’ve daughters, can’t take single men’
In a bid to ascertain the veracity of the claims made by the two prospective home seekers against homeowners, our correspondent posed as a stranded construction worker in need of urgent accommodation in Lagos.
His quest was, however, met with utter disappointment from landlords who gave flimsy reasons why he was not qualified to seek accommodation at their place of abode.
A landlord in Ogba, Lagos State, who claimed he was a chief in Ekiti State, invited this reporter for a sit-down chat to discuss modes of payment but changed his mind when he discovered our correspondent was single.
“Ah! That is a problem o. Do you have a fiancée or anyone that will be living with you?” he asked, scratching his head rigorously. Our correspondent answered in the negative.
“My brother, I like you. You look calm, but I have three daughters. I don’t want problems. My house is no longer available,” he added.
All our correspondent’s pleas fell on deaf ears as he asked the agent to bring in ‘eligible persons’ for his house and not ‘all these young boys that will cause him trouble’.
In another development, a landlady in the Ojodu area of the state, upon hearing our correspondent was Muslim, said, “Muslim? Ah! This is a Christian house. We worship only one God here. I am sorry, my son. I cannot accept you here.”
After several failed searches, a landlady agreed to rent her home to our correspondent. On Tuesday, when this reporter visited her home in Ketu, Kosofe Local Government Area of the state, she said, “Ah! This one na young bobo na. You go block my soakaway with condoms,” signalling that this reporter might be sexually promiscuous.
After asking some sexually disturbing questions, such as how many women our correspondent had slept with in the last six months and if he had a woman in the village, she said, “I will give you my house, but you will have to pay for two years.”
“Two years?” asked this reporter in shock.
“Yes na, two years. I know what you do for a living. I see it in your eyes. You be sabi boy. That money no be anything to you,” the landlady said.
This reporter, shocked to his bones, was cornered by the agent who asked him to ‘comply’.
“Oga, you get this money. Spend it. Next week now, you go pick another one,” the agent said, his tone suggesting that our correspondent was involved in Internet scams.
No Nigerians, only Indians
In the Ilupeju area of the state, a serious issue is thriving. Most landlords in the area refuse Nigerian tenants accommodation and prefer Indians.
A colleague tipped off our correspondent on the brewing discrimination against Nigerians by landlords in the area, who explicitly tell citizens seeking homes that they only rent to Indian nationals.
The Ilupeju area is well known in Lagos as a home away from home for Indians, Lebanese, and other Asian nationalities, who, according to history, have lived there for over 100 years.
Most schools, restaurants, and industries in the area are populated by them. They have a few exclusive schools and several temples but live peacefully with their Nigerian neighbours. But, shockingly, landlords in the area would prefer an Indian tenant to a Nigerian one.
On Ilaka Street in the area, our correspondent saw an advert for two partly-furnished two-bedroom apartments available for rent.
When calling the realtor in charge of the property, he said the landlord only wanted Indians, not Nigerians.
“Several people have called me. Yesterday (Sunday), someone was ready to pay, but the landlord insisted that he wanted Indians alone. There is nothing I can do,” he said.
Asked why the landlord would discriminate against his people, the agent said, “Two Indians live there already. You know Nigerians and how they behave. The man does not want trouble, so he would prefer only Indians.”
Further investigation by our correspondent, who visited the area on Wednesday, showed that several landlords preferred Indian tenants.
A real estate agent who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter told our correspondent that most landlords in the area would choose an Indian family over a Nigerian one because of money.
“The Indians are mostly the top people in some firms here. They have the money to pay. Most landlords would collect as much as rent for four years. Which Nigerian would pay you four years’ rent when he is not even sure he would want to live in your house after two years?” he queried.
“I have more than five properties in the area that I am overseeing. The landlords were very clear – Indians first. Then, if worse comes to worst, Nigerians,” he added.
Another realtor, who wished to be identified only as Fuji, noted that it was the ‘norm’ in the area.
“You know Indians like community. If you put a Nigerian in a compound with several Indians, he may give them trouble. That is why these landlords prefer Indians,” Fuji said.
Asked if he knew it was discriminatory to do so, he said, “It is not our fault. That is just how it is.”
Also, our reporter found out that the discrimination was also status-based. Most landlords in the area boasted that their apartments were ‘all-Indian,’ signalling a higher status than landlords with Nigerian tenants.
A journalist who lives in the area but refused to speak on the record said, “It is shocking but has turned out to be the reality of most landlords. I also experienced that shock when I called a realtor who told me expressly that his boss wanted only Indians.
“He said if I had an Indian family who would take the house, he would give me my cut. I told him I could pay the rent, which was about N3m for the total package at once, but he refused. When he saw I was insistent, he said the landlord wanted me to pay for three years. Why would I do that?” she quipped.
These houses in question are not cheap. Our correspondent’s investigations showed that a two-bedroom apartment in the area costs between N2.5m and N4m.
Ethnic bias, profiling
There have been several cases of landlords playing the ethnicity card when choosing tenants to live in their homes.
On microblogging sites, X and Nairaland, several users lamented how they were denied an apartment in Lagos because they came from a tribe perceived to be ‘troublesome and fond of owing rent.’
A real estate consultant, Felicia Odion, told our correspondent that most landlords in Lagos would consider the tribe of a person before giving out their homes to them.
“It is a regular question. Even if you say you are Yoruba, they will ask you the name of your state, local government, or even village, to find out if you are lying. Some tribes would have it the hardest because of the stereotypes attached to them.
“Some are said to be dirty people who bring in their family members every year and overwhelm the facility in the compound. Some are seen as chronic debtors. Some are seen as very promiscuous. Some have been labelled stingy and may not want to renew the rent easily after paying the initial sum,” she said.
Several sources who spoke to our correspondent also confirmed they suffered ethnic profiling from landlords before they were given their apartments.
One of them from a tribe in the South said he spent over six months looking for an apartment despite having the funds to pay because of where he was from.
He said, “The landlords, once they hear I am from my place, would tell me to come back later or just tell me the house is no longer available. It is like that for most people from where I am from.”
Landlords, agents speak
When contacted, a landlord in the Yaba area of the state, who, on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, spoke to our correspondent about why he would not take a single lady, said, “These girls are mostly prostitutes. They will come and tell you they work here or they work there. Put them in your house first, you will see what they will turn your house into.”
Another landlord, a legal practitioner in the Ikoyi area of the state, who preferred not to be named for personal reasons, told our correspondent that most landlords suspect single ladies to be promiscuous.
“Some of them would come into your house and recruit other girls who would be living with them and paying as much as N10,000 per week to them as some form of rent. That is how they would be able to pay the rent when it is time to renew. It is a menace,” the legal practitioner said.
This reporter’s former landlady, when asked to comment on the matter, gave reasons why she did not have any single ladies in any of her apartments.
She said, “I don’t have the energy for wahala (trouble). You will give your house to one lady. The next day, you will see five others. Before you know it, they have turned your house into a brothel, where men come, have sex, and go. I have been a homeowner for more than 40 years. I know what I am saying.”
“Marital status unnecessary”
However, a young landlord in Rivers State, Terry Promise, said he did not consider his prospective tenant’s marital status before accepting them into his home, stressing that it was unimportant to him.
He said, “What is my business with whether or not someone is married? As long as you pay me my rent and you are peaceful, I don’t want to know whether you are 50 and unmarried. There are other important things in the world that I use my time for. Landlords should stop this discrimination.
“The only reason I ask anyone for their state of origin is just for documentation, and most of them lie to me anyway. It is not my business. Just don’t constitute a nuisance in my house or become a threat to others. That is more important to me.”
Discrimination amid deficit
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, faces a critical housing deficit. With a population exceeding 220 million, the nation struggles to provide adequate and affordable housing.
As of 2023, Nigeria’s housing deficit is a staggering 40 million units, reflecting the gap between needed and available housing, according to the World Bank, Bank of Industry, and various sources. Rapid population growth, urbanisation, and economic challenges worsen the crisis.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports approximately 1.5 million new households are formed annually, straining the inadequate housing supply.
Despite high demand, less than 10 per cent of Nigerians own their homes, as reported by the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company. The high cost of housing and low income levels make homeownership unattainable for most Nigerians.
For instance, a modest apartment in Lagos can exceed N20 million (about $50,000), beyond the means of many residents. The deficit has severe social impacts, contributing to rising poverty, social inequality, and poor living conditions. Also, overcrowding strains infrastructure and fuels informal settlements, leading to social instability.
Although government initiatives like the National Housing Fund and the Family Homes Fund aim to address these issues, discrimination by private landlords further exacerbates the problem.
“Discrimination unethical, unacceptable”
The former National President of the Nigerian Institute of Building and Executive Chairman of Reo-Habillis Construction Limited, Kunle Awobodu, said many regulations imposed by landlords are unconventional and based on personal factors.
“Housing, by definition, is meant to shelter people and store their belongings. Why deny those who can afford to pay due to sociological factors like marital status, tribe, or religion?
“That is discriminatory and frowned upon in the industry. Anyone doing this is not following the regulations guiding the industry, and that is unacceptable,” he said.
He stressed that the government must ensure the distribution of housing equitably, regardless of tribe, religion, or marital status.
Discrimination against constitution
Legal practitioner and Managing Partner at Royal Crown Chambers and Solicitors, Lagos, Tunde Alade-Dauda, noted that the Nigerian constitution prohibited discrimination in any form.
“The constitution does not allow discrimination based on gender, religion, ethnicity, or any other factor. When landlords discriminate in these ways, they are violating the constitution of Nigeria. Some may be doing this ignorantly,” he said.
He added that tenants might not be aware of their rights and could be subject to discriminatory practices.
Citing a personal experience, Alade-Dauda said, “I am aware of landlords who engage in such discrimination. For example, a cousin of mine was asked to vacate his rented house because he was a Muslim. He could have sued, but chose not to pursue legal action.”
A legal practitioner in Abuja, Hussaini Hussaini, echoed Alade-Dauda’s views when he noted that any form of discrimination was actionable and wrong.
He added, “If a landlord refuses to rent based on tribe, it is against the law. However, if someone refuses without a stated reason, it is harder to pursue legally. It encroaches on fundamental rights, and damages may be awarded against such actions.”
However, senior lawyer, Yomi Aliyu (SAN), said private citizens were not liable if they chose not to rent their houses to someone for personal reasons.
He said, “The issue is that the discriminator is a private person who has the right to choose whom to rent to based on personal experience. The constitution prohibits discrimination in public utilities but not necessarily in private rentals.”
Need for reorientation
Professor Martin Ifeanacho of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, highlighted the need for reorientation in Nigeria due to pervasive ethnic divisions.
“Discrimination is against the constitution, which guarantees freedom of association. Whether one wants to be a Christian, Muslim, or non-believer, society must guarantee safety and freedom,” he said.
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