EDITORIAL: Anambra Govt Must Shield Citizens from Outrageous Rent, Shylock Landlords

By David-Chyddy Eleke

Government exists primarily for the protection of lives and property of its citizens. But beyond that, she has the role of protecting the weak from the strong, the poor from the rich and ensuring the general welfare of all.

This is why scholars have further advanced that the main role of government is to establish and enforce laws, maintain social order, and protect citizens from internal and external threats.

In fact, government is responsible for providing certain public services, including infrastructure and education, and ensuring economic stability, and promoting the general welfare of its population.

In Anambra State,the government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo prides itself as a people’s government. It has registered several notable infrastructure, especially roads and also ensured that the United Nations goal of right to education is not just something that exists on paper, same for healthcare.

To Soludo, what used to be popular as stomach infrastructure, which were mainly handouts to specific persons within the corridors of power has been expanded to have a wider scope.

Soludo believe stomach infrastructure means when you ply beautifully paved roads constructed by government and save the money that would have been spent on mechanic for food for the family.

When a woman attends free antenatal, free delivery or other healthcare checks and keep back the money they would have expended for other things, that to Soludo is stomach infrastructure.

Same for free education policy that runs from kindergarten all through to primary, junior and senior secondary. To him, there is no better way to put money in the hands of the people than that – instead of providing handouts to few individuals who loiter around the corridors of power in Awka, either as appointees, party stalwarts or just sycophants.

But in the midst of all these, there is one thing Soludo has remained silent about. That thing is the housing needs of the people.

The United Nations has decent and affordable housing as one of its basic goal. It is summed up on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, Target 11.1, which is to ensure access for all to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services, with a caveat for governments to upgrade slums by 2030. This target aims to eliminate homelessness, address slum conditions, and ensure security of tenure for all residents.

Agreed that housing is a basic need, and just as the Soludo government is working to give education, healthcare and infrastructure, it must also strive to provide decent affordable accommodations for citizens. But knowing that it may be impossible to do so for the growing population of Anambra people, government must not leave citizens at the mercy of Shylock landlords, house agents and property managers because that is what it is presently.

Abuja based Anambra social media influencer, Dr Uche Nworah recently posted the lamentation of a young businessman over rent issues.

Nworah wrote: “Okonkwo Elochukwu Legacy who runs a native wears, beads and traditional paraphernalia shop near Unizik Temp Site, Awka appeals to Anambra State government to regulate house rents in the state.”

Okonkwo’s post which Nworah shared read: “Because of urbanization, rent in Awka has become excessively high. The government truly needs to step in and regulate this rental sector. Business in Awka thrives largely on referrals, unlike in many other cities, and many ventures struggle to survive beyond their early stages, collapsing before they even take off.”

The young businessman is not alone in this complaint. While his grouse is shop rent, those of others are on house rent.

A barber, Mr Ikechukwu Aniagoh told this newspaper: “I’m not so sure what is so special in Awka that is making house rent so expensive? I wish government can step in and regulate rent. How can lawyers and agents be the ones to fix rent for a landlord?

“A landlord will peg his house at N250,000, but an agent will tell you the price is N600,000 to pay N250,000. In that way he will take N350,000 and give landlord N250,000 and subsequently, you start paying N250,000 to the landlord. In fact, these agents sometimes approach landlords and tell them their houses were due for increment as others within same size of apartments have increased theirs. They will instigate a landlord to move rent that was previous N500,000 to N1.2million and even instigate them to serve tenants with the increment notice, in the hope that when you leave in anger, the lot will fall on them to bring new tenants and start afresh taking their commission.”

Right now, many people are leaving decent apartments to reside in places that are less human but affordable. While Soludo has upgraded Okpoko to what is now called New Heaven, in other cities in the state, including the state capital territory, residents are leaving decent places for dilapidated buildings, just to run away from high rent.

We pray the governor to look into the problem of rentage in Anambra State, lest it be a case of transporters plying beautiful roads built by government to defeat road accident, only to sleep in buildings that risk collapse. Let not Anambra citizens access free healthcare and end up retiring to slumps where the living condition will bring even more grave ailments than the ones they just treated. May Anambra children not sit and learn in the new smart schools the governor is building, only to return to shacks where revision is impossible because of poor condition.

Mr Governor, as you commence your second term soon, make it a priority to regulate rent in the state and also curtail the excesses of dupes who pose as agents and property managers. You’re our governor because the poor, vulnerable and needy, need to be protected same way as the rich, wealthy and privileged individuals.