Civil Servants in the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed Worries over high cost of accommodation, saying that they are fed-up with the high cost of living in Abuja.
Some of the civil servants who spoke to journalists on the matter said that they find it difficult to live in Abuja city centre and its environs because of high cost of accommodation.
They have observed that useful man hours are lost on daily basis, as some workers often get to office late in the day and get tired because they live in far away places.
Mr. Bipoe Johnson, a civil servant who spoke to newsmen on the high cost of rent in the FCT, said that he is fed up with the high cost of living in Abuja, adding that he no longer has savings.
She said, “when I was in Benue State, I saved 80 percent of my salary and I was living better with my family. My house rent for one bedroom flat was N70,000; the Maximum School fees 1 paid for each of my children was N7,000 and that is absolutely impossible here.”
Another civil servant in FCT, Mrs Musa Oladimeji said, “what I pay for my apartment increases every year without any cogent reason from my landlord.”
She urged government to come up with a policy that would regulate house rents in Nigeria, particularly at the federal capital.
Nevertheless, Mrs Talatu Mohammed, a landlord in Lugbe, had insisted that she is obliged to increase the rents for her house, in line with the prevailing socio-economic realities in the society.
She stressed that estate agents usually inform landlords about the prevailing trends in house rents within the neighbourhood, adding that the landlords have no other choice than to heed to the advice of the agents.