Anambra state government and activities of extortionist landlords By Maduka Nweke

The development strides of Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, are now being threatened by some Shylocks masquerading as landlords who are bent on extorting tenants doing business in the state.

 Landlords in major cities of the state like Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Nkpor and Obosi have devised ingenious ways of extorting would-be tenants other than their normal increase rent.

According to one of the tenants who identified himself as Chris Xross, it is unfortunate that the kind of regulation  existing in other places like Lagos that bind landlords together is not in Anambra State where landlords are just operating on their own, using whatever policies that favour them. He lamented that these policies are inflicting hardship on the poor masses while the government is looking the other way.

According to him, government should regulate tenancy in the state because the idea of individuals taking laws into their hands will not be in the interest of the state despite what the governor is doing to make things conducive for citizens and residents. He said there should be laws that regulate activities of landlords in the state otherwise the situation one day will boomerang on the government.

Chris said the way these landlords manipulate members of the public has left the poor masses gasping for breath where they ought to be at ease. He said a situation where one has to pay for rent that is legitimate and at the same time pay for agents and commission and other sundry levies was affecting prospective tenants.

He said that poor policy and greed has forced everybody to go out of his way to rob fellow citizens of their hard earned money, decrying that instead of government promulgating laws that will ameliorate the sufferings of the people, the interest of people in government is rather being protected.

Chris who just returned from a foreign trip was having the mind that what obtains overseas would apply in Nigeria only to be surprised to see that all was not rosy.

“It is my second year in Nigeria and within this period, I have witnessed an unjust and fraudulent style. People in the name of being landlords are swindling money from their tenants to-be, which is not in any way government policy or form of taxation. At Onitsha, Anambra State commercial nerve centre where I reside, landlords extort money from poor tenants by various illegal means.

“As a new tenant, you are required to pay one year full rent (housing in new sites, NI5,000; N22,000 per month) but the money will be paid cumulatively for one year. As a new tenant, you are also required to pay for kola money (ego orji), which ranges from N50,000 to NI00,000, else you do not get the apartment. Another aspect is that you will have to pay the lawyer’s fee that ranges from N50,000 to NI00,000 depending on how merciful the landlord is.

“You now pay the agent fee that ranges from N40,000 to N50,000 and the filling of form at a cost of N5,000. But I can tell you that this (ego oji) kola money has nothing to do with government or fee that is receipted. The irony of it all is that when the lawyer’s fee is paid, the property owner shares it with his lawyer,” he said.

As usual, the property owner would put his friend as estate agent just to collect the agent fee. Apart from this one, as many as came looking for the apartment will have to pay the N5,000 for filling the form and in most cases, the new tenant ends up paying roughly NI50,000 to N200,000 extra before getting apartment, apart from the normal rental fee which ranges between NI80,000 and N264,000 for one year.

He said this is happening on a daily basis as a norm and tradition without government doing anything to stop it. According to him, this is affecting people negatively, arguing that a salary earner on minimum wage of NI8,000 with family may not be able to carry on with these expenses. He argued that this kind of situation results in all sorts of crimes happening in the state even though the state government may not know about it.

According to him, most of these Onitsha tenants are not educated and as a result, everyone residing here is regarded as one because the main occupation of most residents (none indigenes) is trading and there is this belief that traders are not educated. Those that seem to know their right and pursue it, in most cases, end up being victimised either by ejection or increase of rent for them to quit voluntarily.

“I believe government can do more to stop this abnormality and madness from selfish property owners in the state. This is as a result of inability of government to provide affordable houses for her citizens as is done in other countries of the world. To worsen the situation, some landlords connive with PHCN staff on bills. In this case, tenants are meant to pay more than they are supposed to because the bills are not separated but always go to the landlords who on their own divide among the number of tenants as they want. In this case at times, tenants pay N10,000 each per month.

This scenario is slightly different in Awada-Obosi, Owelle Ajar-Obosi, Nkpor, 3-3, Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Okpoko, among other suburbs,” he said.