"The monthly rent for a single room in this highly populated building – N6, 000 – is one of the most expensive in mainland Lagos, higher than in places like Yaba, Palmgrove and even Ikeja, the state capital. In addition to the high rent, tenants pay additional N2, 000 for electricity and other utility bills. New tenants who come on their own are made to pay a certain amount to a woman who acts as in-house agent. Without 'settling' her, your tenancy documents won't be signed. But for those coming through an agent outside the place, they could pay as much as N140, 000 – about N34, 000 higher than the usual amount. In additional, a new tenant is made to perform a mandatory ritual – present a specified number of malt drinks and a bottle of wine to the management of the 'estate.'
Disturbing as it sounds, the travails of many Agboye 'estate' residents, a school housing several professional institutes now converted to blocks of residential apartments, is only a fraction of the accommodation challenges many Lagos residents now face. Confronted with outrageous rents and all sorts of living conditions by house owners, many of the city's low-income earning families and individuals are forced to accept cheap alternatives that offer no succour in the real sense. Rather, their troubles have been compounded in many of these places, with their rights grossly abused by greedy house owners who 'lord' over their lives in every form."
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