Hamzat advises young workers to live with parents or share rent

By Adeola Ogunrinde

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, on Thursday advised young workers against feeling pressured to immediately rent expensive apartments, urging them to consider living with their parents, relatives or sharing accommodation while building their finances.

Hamzat gave the advice during a question-and-answer session with Nigeria Info FM, while responding to concerns about how young workers earning low incomes could cope with rising rents 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.

In response, Hamzat said young people should choose accommodation that reflects their income rather than trying to start from the most expensive housing options.

“Don’t let us misunderstand ourselves as a people; we are cultural people, 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,” he said.

He also advised residents not to spend more than 40 per cent of their income on rent, noting that workers had other essential expenses, including food, clothing and transportation.

According to him, the state’s housing strategy also focuses on making homeownership accessible through mortgage financing, as Nigerians could not continue to rely solely on one-off payments to acquire houses.

Hamzat added that the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency number was being used to establish residents’ identities, addresses and places of work to assess their eligibility for housing finance, urging young people to start with smaller properties and gradually work toward homeownership as their incomes and savings improved.