As the nation spent five working days of last week protesting the withdrawal of fuel subsidy on

petrol, stakeholders said real estate subsector of the economy lost billions of naira to the strike.

The stakeholders claimed the loses arose from vandalisation of properties as well as general

disruption of economic activities which affected constructions and allied activities in the subsector

during the strike. The stakeholders claimed that the shutdown of business activities across the

country during the five-day strike affected the property and real estate business in no small

measures. Mrs Dupe Owolabi, a cement distributor for major cement manufacturing companies in

the Lagos, claimed she did not have any sales during the five day the strike lasted. “Since Monday,

when this strike began, I have not made any sales. You can see I am just opening my shop now. I

had closed the shop sinceMonday till today (Saturday). No trader around here could dare open her

shop. First, we did it in solidarity with the labour unions and civil society organisations, thinking

that the government would change its ground within two days of the national strike. But when the

federal government refused to yield ground on the third day; we realised that there was danger.

So we could not come out because everyone was afraid of attack from hoodlums who had hijacked

the strike. They were going from one place to another pretending to be part of protesters but they

were using the cover of the strike to rob people of their belongings, most especially money and

food. But today (Saturday) I have sold about ten bags since morning. In a normal day I used to

sell as many as five tonnes on a Saturday, not to talk of working days when the bricklayers and

contractors would come here to buy in bulk. I can tell you sincerely that since the strike began on

Monday I have lost close to ten million naira in turnover. The problem now is that I don’t even want

to sell again so that hoodlums would not come and attack me at home and rob me of my sales

proceeds.” Mr. Sunday Olowolaye, a bricklayer, who said he had two projects which he had to

deliver to clients by the end of January, said the five - day strike had altered the delivery plan and

time for the projects. He however said it would cost him more time and money before he could

meet delivery time if strike does not continue this week. He argued that he would be in a very

great financial mess should the strike continues. The bricklayer who claimed he was at the final

stage on the construction of a filling station in Okoko, said despite the fact that he had all the

materials for the work on site, he affirmed that neither him nor the labourers working with him on

the site could go to the site to complete the job. “The five-day strike has affected me badly. I have

two building contracts I have to deliver to deliver by the end of this January. One is a petrol station

in Okoko and the other is a block of four flats. The petrol station is almost completed. in fact I

should have put the final touch to it on Monday the very day the strike began. I had given

advanced payments to the workers to motivate them to report to site earlier so that they could

finish earlier. But when the strike began on Monday nobody could go anywhere. I could not risk

going out of my house to the site on that day. So the labourers too could not go out. That meant I

have lost that deposit. By the time the strike is over they would ask for another money. If I refuse

to give them then it means that I don’t need their services on site. The job would be delayed and

the client would not be happy with me,” the disturbed bricklayer said. Besides the disruption of

related business and activities in the real Estate subsector, properties worth hundreds of millions

were lost to outright vandalisation during the strike as a result of the activities of hoodlums.

Among the properties torched or vandalised were those of the Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Minna Niger State. Other

vandalised properties include chambers of a PDP official, the 2011 campaign office of Governor

Babangida Aliyu and the residence of Senator. Dahiru Awaisu.Also vandalised was the office of the

Secretary to the State Government(SSG) in Kano State and the fence wall of government house, .

Other properties destroyed during the five day strike included the residence of Senator Bashir

Garba Lado of Kano Central, residence at Wharf Road in Kano.. .The properties destroyed were

estimated to be in billions of naira. The sector before the strike used to be very vibrant with more

than 2000 Real Estate Developers across the country engaging in the business on daily basis and

making billions of naira in turnover. Publicity Secretary, South West region of the Real Estate

Developers Association of Nigeria, Mr Enitasan said the fuel subsidy removal has adverse effect on

the property market .He said the subsidy removal reduces the disposable income of Nigerians

.This he said will affect the purchasing power of Nigerians including property market players.

People who wants to buy, ,rent or let out their houses are not able to do so. Landlords, he said

might increase rents. ‘’The removal of subsidy has reduced the disposable income of tenants. A

greater number of the number of the Nigerian population live below poverty line. The reduction in

the disposable income of tenants means that those of them whose rents are due may not be able

to pay their rent ,Those of them who wants to rent new apartmaents may not be able to do so. It

also means that people who wants to invest in property may not be able to do so .The fuel subsidy

removal also makes houses unaccesible. Landlords will increase their rents and so on and so forth.

So the federal government under president Goodluck Jonathan should do something about this fuel

crisis. It is getting out of hand.’’ Enitasan also said that people in the outskirts may be moving to

the city due too transportation cost. This fuel subsidy removal will cause a chaos that might see

people flooding the already highly populated cities. He asserted that real estate investors will wait

longer before transacting business on their property. ’The strike action translates to the fact that

investors in the industry will wait longer period to rent and sell properties. It will take time for

people to recoup their investments in the industry. Also people who are living in the outskirts of the

city might want to relocate to the city due to the fuel crisis. Transportation cost has gone up so that

people will find ways of reducing the amount they spend on transportation .This could mean that

some of the people living in the outskirts of Lagos will be moving back into Lagos .’’ Mr Obinna

Obilor works with Goldshield properties. He is of the opinion that the property industry is grounded

with the economy as a result of the strike He said the subsidy removal is not timely. He said the

nation’s economy was grounded in the place with the disruption in the banking sector .He said that

the strike was not timely. The fact remains that the Nigerian economy was not in good shape ,The

banking Industry is not working .The different sectors are almost grounded. And this subsidy thing

in the new year has completetly stalled activities in the economy including the Real Estate sector.

The subsidy is not timely.The effect of the strike is that the property market will witness a complete

fall in demand as people are not thinking about the buying or selling property at this time. People

had to attend to their pressing needs first. And this is food. The industrial action has also stalled

activities of individuals who came into the country during the yuletide with plans to investing in the

sector are not able to do so .These Nigerian he said are now spending the money on other things

and a greater number of them are not interested in investing in Nigeria any more due to this fuel

crisis. .’’Another effect of this industrial action is that people who came into the country during the

yuletide from other parts of the world who would have wanted to buy properties sand identify

investment opportunities in the sector before going back are not able to do so due to the strike’’

He also said that these potential investors are now spending these monies on other things. The

property market has witnessed collosal loss during this industrial loss.