As a student in Nigeria, usually the only major thought that occupies your mind is MONEY!! “What will I eat today?” “How much data do I have left?” “I need enough funds for my project research!” Amid all these thoughts, the heaviest one sitting on every broke student’s chest is accommodation. And honestly, you’re right to worry. I mean, you can’t exactly camp out at the library after a long day in class.
The problem is, and this is especially if you school in Lagos, the prices of student hostels have gone from high to completely ridiculous. What used to be ₦250,000 a year for a small room in Yaba or Akoka is now ₦800,000 to ₦1,000,000. Some even reach two million for the same space that barely fits a bed and a plastic chair. And let’s not forget the “agent fee” and “agreement fee”, because apparently, it costs money to even agree to be exploited.
The Harsh Reality Behind Lagos Hostel Prices
Meanwhile, the university hostels are just as bad. On-campus accommodation is cheaper, yes, around less than ₦100,000 or so, but only a fraction of students ever get it. The rest are left to battle the sharks off-campus. And here’s where it gets worse: schools like UNILAG will suspend you if you bring in a squatter. Imagine being broke, unable to afford rent, and then punished for letting someone crash in your space out of pity. It’s cruelty with paperwork.
Or perhaps the major reason for punishing the students is that the institution doesn’t get a share in the accommodation fee that may have been agreed between the bonafide and the squatter. You see, students that manage to get hostel spaces often get squatters to pay them to “share space” with them. In reality, the squatters are just sleeping on the floor. Some even sell the whole bedspace at 4 times the price they paid for it from the school.
And you’d think this madness would stop somewhere, but no. Just when students were adjusting to new rent or bought space prices, universities quietly increased school fees too. It’s almost as if the system sat down and asked, “How can we make education even harder for poor people?” The result? A generation of students constantly hustling, constantly anxious, constantly broke.
When Agents and Landlords Become the Villains
The landlords and agents in Yaba, Akoka, and Shomolu are a different kind of villain. They inflate prices because they know students will pay anything to stay close to school. “There’s water and prepaid meter,” they’ll say with pride, as if that justifies the rent of a small palace. The audacity! And the agents, those self-appointed middlemen of misery, demand ten per cent of rent for doing nothing but pointing at the building. If evil had a customer service department, it would be full of Lagos housing agents.
The Bigger Picture We’re Ignoring
But let’s pause the outrage and look at the bigger picture. The housing crisis for students isn’t just about greed. It’s also about policy failure. Universities admit more students every year without expanding accommodation. The government talks about youth empowerment but ignores one of the most basic needs of the youth: a safe, affordable place to live. Education can’t empower anyone if they’re sleeping in classrooms or abandoned buses or spending half their stipend on transport from Magodo.
Yet, it doesn’t have to be this bad. Around the world, there are models we could borrow. Student housing cooperatives, for instance, where students collectively manage buildings and reduce costs. Universities could partner with developers to build affordable hostels and lease them at controlled rates. Even tech-based housing platforms could help students find safe, verified accommodation without being scammed by agents. There are solutions, just not enough will to make them happen.
Time for a Moral Reality Check
And to the landlords and agents who think this is just “business”, it’s time to rethink your humanity. These students aren’t your cash cows. They’re young people trying to build a future in a country that already feels like a daily obstacle course. When rent becomes higher than tuition, education stops being a right. It becomes a privilege, and that’s a dangerous place for any nation to be.
Because really, what’s the point of chasing education if you can’t even afford a roof? We tell young Nigerians that education is the key, but at this rate, only the rich can afford that lock right now.
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