The Federal Government has said it is working on a policy to ensure Nigerian workers no longer spend up to 40 to 60 per cent of their salaries on rent.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking in Abuja. He said the high cost of rent is putting enormous pressure on workers and their families.
According to the minister, when workers are forced to use most of their legitimate earnings to pay rent, they struggle to meet other basic needs such as feeding, children’s education and healthcare.
He said this situation could push some workers into seeking alternative and sometimes unethical means of making money.
“One important dimension is that people with families, if they tend to spend their own income, their own legitimate income on rent, then they will have to source other means of getting some money to do other things to take care of their families, their schooling, and the rest. And that is an impetus to corruption,” Darma said.
He added, “So we are going to ensure that in this country, workers do not spend 40 to 60 per cent of their income on rent. We are going to ensure that that is done.”
Darma said reducing the rent burden is part of the government’s broader plan to fight corruption and improve workers’ welfare, while also tackling the country’s housing deficit.
He noted that about 110 million Nigerians are currently unhoused and the country needs about 16 million housing units to bridge the gap.
As part of efforts to support workers, the minister revealed that the government has identified close to 250,000 abandoned housing units across the country, some dating back to the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He said the ministry is already engaging state governors to take over the abandoned estates, renovate them, and allocate them to civil servants as affordable homes.
“If state governments could take over the 250,000 units within the next few months and allocate them to civil servants, it would represent significant progress,” he said.
