There was a time in this country when a young working Nigerian could save up, find a decent flat, pay one year rent, and still have something left in the account. That time feels like ancient history now. Across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and even smaller cities that were once considered affordable, rent has become one of the most brutal expenses in any Nigerian household budget. Landlords are now demanding two years upfront as a standard condition in most urban areas. In many parts of Lagos, a modest two bedroom flat that rented for ₦500,000 annually just four years ago now goes for ₦1.8 million or more. In Abuja, the numbers are even more eye watering. Working professionals earning reasonable salaries are finding themselves priced out of neighborhoods they have lived in for years. The consequences are deeply human. Young people are moving back in with parents well into their thirties, not by choice but by financial necessity. Couples are delaying marriage because they cannot afford to set up a home. Families are squeezing into single rooms in distant outskirts just to survive. There is no rent control. There is no government housing programme that works at scale. There is only the market, and the market has decided that shelter is now a privilege. In a country where decent housing was never cheap, it has now become almost completely out of reach.
