The quality of living is strongly influenced by the environment a person resides in. In assessing quality living, standard of housing and supporting infrastructure are major

issues for consideration. For this reason, real estate located in areas with functional and reasonably adequate infrastructure that support stress-free everyday living not only

attract high demand, but in addition, commands good value. This explains the attraction for places like Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Ikeja G.R.A, Opebi, Ilupeju and part of Lekki

Peninsula among other sought-after locations in Lagos. Similar benefit accrues to comparable places in other parts of the country. These areas continue to enjoy significantly

impressive capital and rental value, as pressure on them continues to mount due to increased demand.

It is public knowledge that our successive government at various levels continue to fail in meeting people’s expectations in the provision of basic infrastructure across the

country. It is therefore not a surprise that living quality is generally poor. The inequitable trend that has been observed however over the years till date is that whenever

government endeavor to provide / improve public infrastructure, their bias is overwhelmingly in favor of high brow neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are far well off in

terms of road transportation, power, water, access to commercial centres among others. This discriminatory treatment heightens demand for these areas, making them very

valuable, while the rest of the society (substantial majority) are left to deal with non-existent or badly declining infrastructure.

This approach, in our view, is very unfair. Public fund belonging to all citizens are deployed to benefit few areas at the expense of the majority. Furthermore, there is no

evidence to show that those living in these prime havens are more forthright in their tax obligation than the rest of the society. In fact, employees in government sectors and

few organizations that treasure compliance (most living outside these havens) generally pay their taxes, as their employers deducted from source. Most of the rich who live in

these havens make informal income and generally do not pay correct taxes, if they pay at all. In addition, by this discriminatory development approach, the real estate value

in these havens enjoys handsome growth, while the value of majority of real estate in areas characterized by difficult access, porous security and other ills continue to be

eroded.

There are quite a number of adverse implications for this inequitable approach. Undue pressure on few areas with good infrastructure leads to high real estate pricing in those

locations, thus creating distorted land value. Extreme variation in overall built environment emerges, as sharp distinctions are seen among neighborhoods. Social inefficiencies

further emerge, leading to poor health, loss of value, depopulation of quality residents in failing areas, and social vices. Corruption is encouraged, as people become

desperate to live in these quality havens at all cost, to escape the hardship of most areas.

We hope those in authorities will see the above interrelationships, and the social injustice in the current approach. Provision of infrastructure to support standard living is a

basic duty owed every citizen and not just a few by the state.

This house, with the roof removed, was designed by Ying chee Chui as a part of MIT’s “1K House” project.

Property development in Nigeria has the potential to be a very lucrative business but developers need to familiarise themselves with the local way of doing things.

Property developers in Nigeria need to take note of the many peculiar issues and risks involved in the sector. Jaco Maritz asks Rory Roriston, director of real estate

investments, corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank, about some of the lessons he has learned.

Why is property in Nigeria among the most expensive in the world?

This doesn't apply to the whole of Nigeria. It is generally restricted to Lagos and is as a result of the age old theory of supply and demand. This is particularly prevalent in

the Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki areas in Lagos. Apart from Lekki, which is an enormous land reclamation, the islands were previously residential areas. They have now

become sought-after areas for commercial offices, especially Victoria Island. Ikoyi is still mainly residential but commercial development is happening at a rapid pace. I however

don't believe the transformation will be as extensive as Victoria Island and it will be limited to the main arterial roads. Lagos Island is an older mixed-use node but has

deteriorated and become extremely congested.

The lack of large tracts of land on the islands has been a contributor to the high costs. Another contributor is the shortage of high-grade office space demanded by

international operators that have recognised the opportunities that Nigeria present. This is not a short-lived demand where market rentals tumble every time a major

development comes on stream. The rentals are sustainable for the long-term and in fact every major development seems to set a new benchmark.