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Inside Edo
Atu’s Push for Real Estate Regulation: A Timely Intervention in Edo’s Housing Crisis
Written By: Frank Aghasevboesi Nosakhare
19 Nov 2025 05:38 AM
The recent move by the Edo State House of Assembly to begin regulating real estate agents is one of the most important policy conversations Benin City has seen in years. Anyone living in this city knows that the housing crisis did not start today.
It has been building quietly, street by street, from Sapele Road to Airport Road, down to the GRA axis and even into rapidly developing areas like Upper Sakponba Extension, Ugbor, Irhirhi, Adolor College Road, and Amagba.
The truth is simple: ordinary residents are being priced out of their own city, not just because of rising rent, but because of the unchecked activities of self-styled agents who have turned housing into a risky gamble.
In places like Sapele Road and Airport Road, the average cost of securing a modest two-bedroom apartment has now climbed to between ₦650,000 and ₦850,000, while GRA has pushed even further into the ₦1,200,000 to ₦1,800,000 range. These figures do not even include the infamous “agent fees,” “agreement,” and “caution”, extra charges that now collectively run as high as ₦250,000 to ₦400,000 depending on who a resident encounters.
For many young workers, small business owners, civil servants, and new families trying to start life, the first step into the rental market now requires almost ₦1,000,000 even in areas previously considered affordable. And in some developing locations around Benin, where residents expected relief, the story is the same, high charges, inconsistent fees, and little or no accountability.
This is the real reason the first reading of the bill to regulate real estate agents, championed by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Osamwonyi Evbaguehita Atu, is more than a legislative formality. It is a response to the frustration that Edo people have lived with for too long.
Quack agents have taken advantage of the desperation for housing, collecting multiple payments for the same apartment, imposing arbitrary fees, inflating rents, and even disappearing after receiving deposits.
In communities across Ugbowo, Ekhanlen, and parts of the Siluko Road stretch, countless tenants have stories of losing ₦100,000, ₦150,000, even ₦200,000 to fraudulent intermediaries who operate freely because no one regulates their activities.
This bill, if strengthened and passed, has the potential to restore order. At the very least, it can protect residents by setting clear standards for who can practice as an agent, establish a registry, define fees, and enforce penalties for fraudulent practices.
Benin City is growing fast, and development is spreading deeper into communities that were once quiet outskirts.
Most notably, Governor Monday Okpebholo's push for infrastructural development across the State, including the ongoing Ramat Park flyover, the planned Dawson Road Junction flyover, and the Sapele Road/Adesuwa flyover construction, alongside key road rehabilitation on old Sapele Road, Upper Mission Extension, and adjoining communities, is gradually reshaping mobility and opening new corridors of growth.
These projects are not merely construction sites, they stand as a strong validation of the urgency and importance of this conversation.
The city is expanding rapidly and property value is rising fast along these developing axes, regulation becomes even more critical to ensure that progress does not translate into exploitation.
It has been building quietly, street by street, from Sapele Road to Airport Road, down to the GRA axis and even into rapidly developing areas like Upper Sakponba Extension, Ugbor, Irhirhi, Adolor College Road, and Amagba.
The truth is simple: ordinary residents are being priced out of their own city, not just because of rising rent, but because of the unchecked activities of self-styled agents who have turned housing into a risky gamble.
In places like Sapele Road and Airport Road, the average cost of securing a modest two-bedroom apartment has now climbed to between ₦650,000 and ₦850,000, while GRA has pushed even further into the ₦1,200,000 to ₦1,800,000 range. These figures do not even include the infamous “agent fees,” “agreement,” and “caution”, extra charges that now collectively run as high as ₦250,000 to ₦400,000 depending on who a resident encounters.
For many young workers, small business owners, civil servants, and new families trying to start life, the first step into the rental market now requires almost ₦1,000,000 even in areas previously considered affordable. And in some developing locations around Benin, where residents expected relief, the story is the same, high charges, inconsistent fees, and little or no accountability.
This is the real reason the first reading of the bill to regulate real estate agents, championed by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Osamwonyi Evbaguehita Atu, is more than a legislative formality. It is a response to the frustration that Edo people have lived with for too long.
Quack agents have taken advantage of the desperation for housing, collecting multiple payments for the same apartment, imposing arbitrary fees, inflating rents, and even disappearing after receiving deposits.
In communities across Ugbowo, Ekhanlen, and parts of the Siluko Road stretch, countless tenants have stories of losing ₦100,000, ₦150,000, even ₦200,000 to fraudulent intermediaries who operate freely because no one regulates their activities.
This bill, if strengthened and passed, has the potential to restore order. At the very least, it can protect residents by setting clear standards for who can practice as an agent, establish a registry, define fees, and enforce penalties for fraudulent practices.
Benin City is growing fast, and development is spreading deeper into communities that were once quiet outskirts.
Most notably, Governor Monday Okpebholo's push for infrastructural development across the State, including the ongoing Ramat Park flyover, the planned Dawson Road Junction flyover, and the Sapele Road/Adesuwa flyover construction, alongside key road rehabilitation on old Sapele Road, Upper Mission Extension, and adjoining communities, is gradually reshaping mobility and opening new corridors of growth.
These projects are not merely construction sites, they stand as a strong validation of the urgency and importance of this conversation.
The city is expanding rapidly and property value is rising fast along these developing axes, regulation becomes even more critical to ensure that progress does not translate into exploitation.
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