By Olasunkanmi Akoni
LAGOS — The advice by Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, to young workers struggling with high rents to consider living with their parents or relatives has sparked mixed reactions among residents. While some described the advice as unrealistic and insensitive, others said it was a practical way of coping with the rising cost of living and housing in the state. Hamzat had advised residents facing rising rents to choose accommodation within their means, consider shared housing where necessary and explore mortgage financing as a long-term pathway to home ownership. The Deputy Governor, who is also the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate for the 2027 election, gave the advice during an interview on Nigeria Info FM while responding to concerns over the difficulty young workers face in paying rent in Lagos.
He was asked how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a self-contained apartment or mini-flat costing about N1 million annually. Responding, Hamzat said rising housing costs should encourage residents, particularly those at the early stages of their careers, to avoid taking on accommodation they could not comfortably afford. He advised young workers who were unmarried and at the beginning of their careers to consider living with parents or relatives or sharing accommodation until their financial circumstances improved. “Don’t let us misunderstand ourselves as a people.
Do you understand? So, if I start work as a young person and I’m not married, a lot of us live with our parents. A lot of us live with our cousins,” Hamzat said. He also urged workers to choose accommodation based on their income rather than feeling pressured to rent expensive apartments immediately after securing employment.
“You know, go to Turkey, for example, and see how young people also live,” he said. Hamzat further cautioned workers against spending an excessive proportion of their earnings on rent. “In fact, if you spend more than 40 per cent of your income on rent, it is too high because you must eat, you must buy clothes, you must do transportation,” he said.
He advocated mortgage financing as part of the long-term solution to Nigeria’s housing challenges, saying prospective homeowners should be able to spread the cost of purchasing homes rather than paying the entire amount at once. The comments have since generated reactions, particularly on social media, with debate over whether young Lagos residents can realistically achieve financial independence amid rising rents and relatively low wages. For some residents, the suggestion that young workers should return to their parents when they can no longer afford rent failed to take into account the responsibilities many already shoulder. A resident, Abiola David, described the suggestion as impractical for young people who had already established independent lives. “I left my parents’ house several years ago.
I got a job, started paying my rent, bought the things I needed and built my life around my work. Now because rent has increased, somebody is telling me to go back to my parents. How does that work?” he asked. David said many young Lagos residents were not only responsible for their own expenses but also supported members of their families. “We are not just paying rent. Some of us send money home every month. Some are paying school fees for younger siblings.
Some have parents who depend on them. So returning home is not necessarily a solution,” he said.
