Different people have different stories to tell about their first day, first week or first month in a boarding school. As I recall, mine was terrible. The first Sunday was when the Senior Prefect read out the school’s rules and regulations. He also went on to elaborate on the bye-laws. By the time he finished, all I could think of was that I was entering a kind of prison.

The strict adherence to bells as well as not crossing lawns and walking certain corridors felt very restrictive for someone leaving his parents’ all-seeing eyes for the first time and thinking a boarding house offered a kind of freedom. Next was the unfairness as it were, in suspending the laws of ‘first come, first served.’ Seniors, irrespective of size or age, always enjoyed preferences. Igbobi College in my time was a school which placed so much premium on seniority as long as there was no physical abuse.

After crying myself to sleep for a few nights, and realizing there was no escape anywhere, I began to adapt. I soon realized that there was a method to the seeming madness. It was a system that created order. More importantly, it encouraged ambition and aspiration as it soon occurred to me that I would be a senior in nine months provided I passed my promotion exams. I would then be entitled to some privileges however limited. And that the privileges would increase as I climbed the seniority ladder. It is called paying your dues. As it is in school, so it is in life.

Growing up, one of the prayers of elders to a child was that he would be successful in whatever vocation fate chose for him. And that the success would not turn his head in a way that would prevent him from helping his parents or forgetting his humble beginnings. The most visible signs of success then were to own a car and build a house. They were seen as a reward for payment of dues. Owning a car might have become more commonplace now than it was in the 60s and 70s, but building a house is still premium. Anyone who retired and was still be obligated to a landlord was not regarded as having had a successful career. Especially in an era when people were buried in front of their homes.

Last week, I met a State Editor of a newspaper, and finding a kindred spirit, got into long conversations on politics and life with him. We went from the 2027 presidential permutations to our profession. Journalism is one profession where practitioners get to the top at a relatively young age. The high-level contacts and therefore power, at that young age can be heady. Unfortunately, many don’t make hay with the shinning sun and so soon, find themselves in a place where access to Governors and top corporate executives disappear.

I have seen many of my erstwhile ‘successful’ colleagues now playing to smaller audiences just to earn a living. Many have been forced by circumstances to live in a rat hole because that is what they can afford. Many have died homeless. It is a sad, depressing thought. It was therefore refreshing that this Editor referred to his house in Abuja with a deserved measure of pride. It turned out that his shylock landlord pushed him into seizing the moment. He had earlier taken a political job as a ‘gap’ from journalism and his lifestyle was fairly comfortable. He rented a place in a good part of town in line with his political status.

But having his landlord double his rent in less than three years made him realise the life he had chosen for himself was unsustainable. He told me the measures he took and the discipline that went into building his ‘castle’ which has now appreciated so much in value. As Yoruba would say ‘a da ni l’oro fi agbara ko ni’ meaning whoever gives you a painful experience has inadvertently taught you a hard, but useful lesson. In other words, sweet are the uses of adversity. This Editor was pushed to build a house because of the antics of his landlord just as a junior student is encouraged to study hard to become a senior because of the oppressive nature of some seniors. We all can’t wait to be landlords because of the reprieve it offers from uncertainties and shylock landlords.

It is easy however, to get into the tenancy trap due to the numerous hurdles involved in becoming a landlord. These hurdles start with genuine land acquisition and continue with securing various government permits, dealing with cheating contractors only to end up with fraudulent tenants. It thus seems easier to pay for the comfort one needs as a tenant without having to worry about land cases, leaking roofs or different government agencies looking to extort money. But the reality is that being a tenant in a good part of Lagos and Abuja is hardly sustainable given the frequency and steepness of rent hikes. The high rate of inflation and the constant demand on decent accommodation don’t help matters.

There are lots of desperate home seekers who would do anything to secure a place even when they know they cannot afford the rent. Tenants deliberately defraud. Agents deliberately defraud. Landlords are also not left out of this unending game of deceit. Clearly some regulations are inevitable especially in urban cities.

Lagos State is said to be working on a Tenant/Landlord Bill. If passed into law, it would be the second Tenant/Landlord law that I am aware of in about a decade. The State Government would do well to find out why the Tenancy/Landlord law enacted under the Fashola administration did not gain too much traction. There is a lot of impunity in the housing space, starting with the State Government itself. Regulators should start with self-regulation and self-discipline. It has to remove the beam in its own eyes to be able to see the log in the eyes of others.

Speedy but equitable arbitration will take care of a lot of impunities – with the government agencies also subjecting themselves to arbitration. Ease of doing property business will curb abuses which would then encourage honest entrepreneurs into the property space. But the ultimate game-changer is for government to invest massively in housing to meet the challenges of its people. The basic law of supply and demand will always override any law however well intentioned.

• Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com

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