Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala Backs Bill to End Advance Rent Extortion | Minkail Olaitan
Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala Backs Bill to End Advance Rent Extortion | Minkail Olaitan
Across Nigeria, securing a roof has become an exercise in financial humiliation. Landlords and agents routinely demand one, two or even three years’ rent in advance, then add agency fees that can reach a quarter of the annual sum, service charges that appear from nowhere, and agreement fees that serve no clear purpose. There is little regulation. There is even less redress. For many working Nigerians the result is the same: savings are emptied, family members are approached for loans, or the search for accommodation is abandoned.
The pressure is not abstract. A young couple leaving national service, a civil servant transferred to Abuja, a small trader trying to open a shop in the capital. All meet the same barrier. The money required upfront often exceeds what they can raise without debt. When the alternative is a longer commute from the outskirts or an overcrowded room, many pay and carry the strain for years. Uncontrolled advance rent and unregulated agent charges have turned housing into a form of extraction. The absence of clear rules has left tenants exposed and landlords unaccountable.
Nowhere is the extraction more relentless than in Lagos. Landlords, agents and intermediaries have refined a system in which a prospective tenant must produce two or three years’ rent, agency fees of 10 to 20 per cent, caution fees, agreement fees and assorted “development” charges before a key is handed over. Many exhaust family savings, take high-interest loans or abandon the search altogether. What begins as a search for shelter ends as a calculated depletion of income. The same pattern is no longer confined to Lagos. In Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and other cities, the practice of treating tenants as sources of immediate capital rather than parties to a contract has become widespread. Without deliberate evaluation and firm regulatory intervention, the attitude hardens into custom.
It is against this background that the Federal Capital Territory Advance Rent Regulation and Tenants’ Protection Bill, 2026, recently passed second reading in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Hon. Paul Nnamchi and co-sponsored by Hon. Ahmed Doro, the bill seeks to prohibit landlords, agents and property managers in the FCT from compelling tenants to pay more than twelve months’ rent in advance as a condition for securing or renewing a tenancy. It also aims to regulate agency and related fees, protect against unlawful eviction and establish a rent regulation and tenants’ protection authority. Tenants would still be free to pay more than a year voluntarily if they choose, provided the arrangement is not imposed and is documented. The proposal does not abolish advance rent. It seeks to end the compulsory multi-year demand that currently forces many into hardship.
During the debate on the floor, Hon. Olamijuwonlo Ayodeji Alao-Akala, who represents Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South and Oriire, participated and supported the measure. He noted the unreasonable burden placed on young couples and newly employed people asked to produce two years’ rent at once, and argued that the law should allow monthly, six-monthly or annual arrangements while preventing landlords from forcing several years upfront. His contribution was specific and practical.
Some remain sceptical about the activeness of the Ogbomoso representative. Yet on a matter that affects ordinary Nigerians seeking shelter, he was present on the floor, engaged the substance of the bill and pressed the case for fairness. That is the work of a pragmatic legislator: raising critical national issues where intervention is required and ensuring the concerns of those under pressure are heard in the chamber that can act.
The bill is limited to the FCT at the time, but the problem it addresses is national. Similar practices operate in Lagos, Port Harcourt and other cities with little restraint. Passage of a clear rule in the capital will not solve every housing difficulty, yet it will establish that compulsory multi-year extraction is no longer acceptable and that tenants have a defined path to challenge abuse. For the many Nigerians already bearing the cost of an unregulated market, that is a necessary and overdue step. The House has advanced the bill. What remains is to ensure the final law is precise, enforceable and free of loopholes that would allow the old practice to continue under another name.
Minkail Olaitan is a graduate of History and International Studies, an author and creative writer. Contact him via Gmail: olaitanminkail@gmail.com